Together at last: Bozeman hosts first Special Olympics state games in four years

Traci Rosenbaum Chronicle Staff Writer

More than 700 athletes stood on the floor of Montana State University’s Brick Breeden Fieldhouse on Wednesday and took a solemn oath. “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”

From the back of the auditorium, a dozen law enforcement officers entered and circled an empty cauldron soon to be lit by a flame that had been carried 2,000 miles across Montana. The lighting of the cauldron marked the opening of the 2023 Special Olympics State Summer Games.

Athletes from all over Montana compete in the games each year, and the room was filled with hugs, high-fives and fist bumps as participants celebrated seeing each other again after four years apart.

The state competition is hosted by a different city every three years. Although it’s the end of Bozeman’s three-year run, this is the first time the city has been able to hold the games since the COVID-19 pandemic. The games fall under the purview of Special Olympics International, which canceled the 2020 through 2022 seasons out of an abundance of caution for the athletes’ health.

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