Special Olympics World Games opens in Berlin

In the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and international guests, Steinmeier thanked all those who had prepared the event. Eight runners then completed a lap of the stadium holding the Special Olympics “Flame of Hope” before the fire of the Games was lit at 11.17 pm local time. The more than three-hour ceremony, which had begun when the delegations marched into the stadium, ended with a performance by the world-famous Blue Man Group and a firework display. The parade, which lasted around 110 minutes, saw the athletes and their team supervisors proceed across the Olympic Stadium’s blue tartan track to find their places amid tumultuous applause. As a sign of their connectedness, each nation had brought water from their homeland with them and poured it into a basin surrounding the show stage installed in the middle of the stadium.