The Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) 2008 Summer Games, featuring 1,400 Special Olympics athletes from 27 regional areas gathered to compete for championship titles on June 13-15 at Cal State University Long Beach (CSULB).

Forty-five athletes from Special Olympics SLO County traveled down to CSULB on Friday, June 13 to compete in bocce, aquatics, athletics, gymnastics, and golf in hopes to bring home the Gold, Silver, and Bronze!

Opening Ceremonies kicked off with the parade of athletes, lighting of the cauldron, and carrying of the torch by a law enforcement officer. “The Flame of Hope” signified a longstanding fundraising partnership between law enforcement agencies and Special Olympics. More than 3,500 law enforcement officers throughout Southern California participated in the Olympic-style torch relay, carrying the flame over 1,500 miles to the CSULB campus Friday evening.

Closing ceremonies were highlighted by the appearance of Los Angeles Galaxy and international soccer star David Beckham. Beckham congratulated and awarded athletes on their accomplishments over the weekend. “The passion and desire you’ve shown in this (Special) Olympics is very special and you should all be very proud of that,” he said. “When you look throughout the world at every athlete in the world, believe me they’d be all proud of what you’ve achieved here this weekend.”

Special Olympics Summer Games were made possible by title sponsor Vons Foundation. Media partner for the showcase CBS/KCAL9 will be providing coverage of the weekend’s activities in a one-hour Special Olympics special airing on CBS2 on July 20 at 4 p.m. and KCAL9 on July 26 at 5 p.m.