The Ceremony celebrates the contagious kindness and joy of Special Olympics athletes, inspiring authentic bonds and leaving a legacy of inclusion at Torino 2025.
Special Olympics is a global sports movement for individuals with intellectual disabilities, offering year-round training and competition in over 30 Olympic-type sports. Founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1968, it promotes inclusion by empowering athletes, volunteers, and communities through sports, health, education, and social programs. The Opening Ceremony, A Gentle Strength, blends artistic and protocol moments to honor Paralympic athletes and universal values. The Flame’s arrival, athlete parade, oaths, and official addresses were paired with performances by artists with and without disabilities, celebrating kindness, courage, and determination. Gentle strength manifests as individual attitude, inspiring force, and gestures of empathy, nurturing connections, joy, and collective achievements. The ceremony leaves a lasting legacy, highlighting gentle strength as a universal value and transformative force for inclusion and hope.
Drawing on a long-standing experience in the creation and production of Olympic Ceremonies, the Paralympic Ceremonies are conceived as a tribute to creativity, innovation, and profound respect. Every story is told with simple, linear narratives, sonorous rhythms, and fluid movements—never overwhelming, always attuned to the participants. Visuals, sounds, and lights rise gently in harmony with the story, accentuating wonder without intrusion. Every element is conceived with care: the experience is designed around the strengths, fragilities, and voices of athletes with intellectual disabilities, whether performing, volunteering, or witnessing. The stage is framed within the luminous silhouette of Turin’s Mole Antonelliana, becoming a living playground and a “machine of marvels” that transforms with each act, inviting exploration and shared delight. The cauldron, ablaze at the center, takes on a powerful symbolic role, while screens on either side highlight key moments of the Games.
