Details of Special Olympics World Summer Games Closing Ceremony Announced

Details of Special Olympics World Summer Games Closing
Ceremony Announced

International music groups Westlife, Blue and Liberty X
will be leading the celebration of the achievements of athletes
at the Closing Ceremony of the 2003 Special Olympics World
Summer Games. It will be the party of all parties, the opportunity
to honour the achievements of 7,000 athletes from 160 countries,
an opportunity for the 30,000 volunteers and the people
of the island of Ireland to reflect and celebrate the staging
of the largest sporting event in the world this year. The
Closing Ceremony of 2003 World Games will take place in
Croke Park on Sunday, June 29.

Details of the line-up were announced on Sunday May 25.
The Closing Ceremony is being produced by MCD. Tickets go
on sale on Saturday June 7 from Ticketmaster outlets nationwide
at www.ticketmaster.ie; or by phoning from the Republic
of Ireland: 0818-719300; Northern Ireland: 087024455. Tickets
are priced at 30 Euro each, or family tickets (four) are
available for 100 Euro. All proceeds from tickets sales
will go to Special Olympics. The Ceremony will be broadcast
by 2FM.

Apart from the entertainment, the 65,000 audience members
will witness the taking down of the Special Olympics Flag
and its presentation to the Games’ Organising Committee
of 2005 Special Olympics Winter Games which will take place
in Nagano, Japan. “It is going to be a very emotional occasion
– tears of joy and sadness,” said Mary Davis, Chief Executive
Officer, 2003 World Games’ Organising Committee. “Celebrating
the achievements of the athletes, and at the same time having
to say goodbye to them is going to be hard for all of us.
The Closing Ceremony will also be an opportunity for the
athletes, the coaches and the families to say thank you
to the 30,000 plus volunteers who have made the World Games
happen. We hope as many people as possible will come along
and ‘Share the Feeling’ one last time,” she added.

For further information, contact: 2003 Special Olympics
World Summer Games’ Press Office Julian Davis Fleishman-Hillard
Saunders Tel.: 01-6188423 / 086-2531269