Kim Yu-na Fetes Special Olympics on 100-Day Countdown

Figure skating star Kim Yu-na led the celebrations at an event marking the one-year countdown to the 2013 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Pyeongchang at Seoul Plaza on Sunday, with over 2,000 citizens, volunteers and a few celebrities turning up. "As an athlete, I am very much looking forward to the Special Olympics in Pyeongchang next year. I ask for your continued support for the athletes taking part," said Kim, who is an honorary promotional ambassador for the sporting event. The games will take place from Jan. 26 to Feb. 6 next year in Gangneung and Pyeongchang in Gangwon Province, with some 2,300 athletes from over 100 countries and 10,000 volunteers set to participate. The Special Olympics was established in 1968 in the United States at the suggestion of the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a philanthropist and younger sister of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy. It is different from the Paralympics as it focuses on athletes with purely intellectual disabilities.