{"id":20836,"date":"2026-05-21T15:17:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T15:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=20836"},"modified":"2026-05-21T15:17:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T15:17:00","slug":"special-olympics-summer-games-kick-off-thursday-with-opening-ceremonies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=20836","title":{"rendered":"Special Olympics Summer Games kick off Thursday with opening ceremonies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">SEARCY, Ark. (KAIT) &#8211; More than 2,000 athletes and 500 coaches are expected to participate in the 2026 Special Olympics Arkansas Summer Games May 21-23.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Opening ceremonies will be held at the Ted and Marcie Lloyd Track and Field Complex, 1825 E. Beebe Capps Expressway in Searcy, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 21. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The competition begins at 8:30 a.m. Friday, May 22, at the Harding University\u2019s Bison Lane, except swimming which will be held at the Searcy Swim Center, 525 Recreation Way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Athletes will compete in a variety of sports including bocce, softball, tennis, powerlifting, swimming and track and field.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media-item | figure media-item-image article-image w-100\">\n<div class=\"figure-wrapper img-wrapper figure-img\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" alt=\"Athletes will compete in a variety of sports including bocce, softball, tennis, powerlifting,...\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/gray-kait-prod.gtv-cdn.com\/resizer\/v2\/RBJHFS3JRNFYFOEDRSBAHQ6L3A.jpg?auth=8f08fd829bc8ebddce6b3b9fb760e8fefb1aa90a987f7e25af1f464d538f5ce6&amp;width=980&amp;height=651&amp;smart=true\" width=\"980\" height=\"651\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gray-kait-prod.gtv-cdn.com\/resizer\/v2\/RBJHFS3JRNFYFOEDRSBAHQ6L3A.jpg?auth=8f08fd829bc8ebddce6b3b9fb760e8fefb1aa90a987f7e25af1f464d538f5ce6&amp;width=540&amp;height=358&amp;smart=true 540w, https:\/\/gray-kait-prod.gtv-cdn.com\/resizer\/v2\/RBJHFS3JRNFYFOEDRSBAHQ6L3A.jpg?auth=8f08fd829bc8ebddce6b3b9fb760e8fefb1aa90a987f7e25af1f464d538f5ce6&amp;width=720&amp;height=478&amp;smart=true 720w, https:\/\/gray-kait-prod.gtv-cdn.com\/resizer\/v2\/RBJHFS3JRNFYFOEDRSBAHQ6L3A.jpg?auth=8f08fd829bc8ebddce6b3b9fb760e8fefb1aa90a987f7e25af1f464d538f5ce6&amp;width=980&amp;height=651&amp;smart=true 980w, https:\/\/gray-kait-prod.gtv-cdn.com\/resizer\/v2\/RBJHFS3JRNFYFOEDRSBAHQ6L3A.jpg?auth=8f08fd829bc8ebddce6b3b9fb760e8fefb1aa90a987f7e25af1f464d538f5ce6&amp;width=1300&amp;height=863&amp;smart=true 1300w\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"figure-caption mt-1 px-1\"><span class=\"caption-text\">Athletes will compete in a variety of sports including bocce, softball, tennis, powerlifting, swimming and track and field.<\/span><span class=\"caption-credit\">(Harding University)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The public is invited to come out and cheer on the contestants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cThis is a wonderful event, and we hope many will attend in support of the athletes, coaches, staff, volunteers and so many others who make this event possible,\u201d said Dr. John Richard Duke, executive director of the American Studies Institute at Harding University.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">For more information, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.specialolympicsarkansas.org\/\" rel=\"\">SpecialOlympicsArkansas.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\"><i>To report a typo or correction, please <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kait8.com\/page\/tips\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noreferrer\"><i>click here<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><i>Copyright 2026 KAIT. All rights reserved.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kait8.com\/2026\/05\/21\/special-olympics-summer-games-kick-off-thursday-with-opening-ceremonies\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SEARCY, Ark. (KAIT) &#8211; More than 2,000 athletes and 500 coaches are expected to participate in the 2026 Special Olympics Arkansas Summer Games May 21-23. Opening ceremonies will be held at the Ted and Marcie Lloyd Track and Field Complex, 1825 E. Beebe Capps Expressway in Searcy, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 21. The competition [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":851,"featured_media":20837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[273],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-powerlifting-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Special Olympics Summer Games kick off Thursday with opening ceremonies - World Bodybuilding News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=20836\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Special Olympics Summer Games kick off Thursday with opening ceremonies - World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SEARCY, Ark. (KAIT) &#8211; More than 2,000 athletes and 500 coaches are expected to participate in the 2026 Special Olympics Arkansas Summer Games May 21-23. Opening ceremonies will be held at the Ted and Marcie Lloyd Track and Field Complex, 1825 E. Beebe Capps Expressway in Searcy, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 21. 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