US embassy hosts send-off for Luxembourg Special Olympics team

(CS) The US embassy in Luxembourg City on Monday evening hosted a send-off for the Grand Duchy's Special Olympics team travelling to the World Summer Games on Los Angeles in July.

A team of 39 athletes is taking part in the Special Olympics World Summer Games. They train with 17 coaches and will compete in table tennis, basketball, artistic gymnastics, football, aquatics, bocce, athletics and tennis.

The athletes were welcomed at the embassy by Chargé d'Affaires Alison Shorter-Lawrence who wished them all the best of luck in the Games. Chair of Special Olympics Luxembourg Pascale Schmoetten and the organisation's national director Marc Feltgen were also at hand to celebrate with the team.

Carrying red, while and blue balloons the group left the embassy residence for a festive walk around Rond-Point Schuman before returning to the embassy garden for ice-cream floats and other snacks.

The Special Olympics Summer World Games take place in Los Angeles from July 25 to August 2 this year. Luxembourg will be one of 177 countries taking part with some 7,000 athletes competing in 25 sports.

The Games will be hosted at the LA Memorial Coliseum, where the Olympics Games of 1932 and 1984 were held.

The torch for the Games was lit during a ceremony in Athens on May 14. The Flame of Hope was then transported to the US, where it began its relay across the country from Washington DC to LA on May 26.