A total of 7,000 athletes from 150 countries travelled to North Carolina for the 1999 Special Olympics World Summer Games. The 19 events are aquatics, athletics, badminton, basketball, bocce, bowling, cycling, equestrian, football, golf, gymnastics, powerlifting, roller skating, sailing, softball, table tennis, team handball, tennis and volleyball.
Team sizes varied from just one from Libya to 2,762 in the US team. They came from countries as diverse as Kazakhstan (24), Peru (80), Australia (55), Yemen (4), India (80), Albania (5), Iceland (38), Poland (48) and Jamaica (44).
The 77 Irish contestants won 29 gold medals, 33 silver and 23 bronze. Next time, in 2003, the Special Olympics will come to Ireland. It will be the first time that the Games, founded 30 years ago by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, will go outside the US.