SI's Special Olympics Coverage

The Special Olympics turn 40 this year, and in this week's Sports Illustrated, the magazine pays tribute to Eunice Kennedy Shriver by honoring her with the inaugural Sportsman of the Year Legacy Award. If you'd like to contribute to the Special Olympics, click here. Here are several stories chronicling the event.

Gallery: Special Olympics

They Came Up Roses
By E.M. Swift, August 17, 1987
The athletes at the Special Olympics for the mentally retarded couldn't all win gold medals, but the hope and joy they brought to South Bend made them champions in a much larger sense.

Little Big Man
By Lisa Twyman Bessone, November 11, 1991
Andy Leonard, who came to America as a Vietnam War orphan, has become a very special champion.