WWE Stars Open Sports Experience Center At Special Olympics World Summer Games In ShanghaiOctober 1, 2007 – Mick Foley and Torrie Wilson joined Special Olympics Chairman Timothy Shriver, Special Olympics Founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Coca Cola CEO Mutar Kent, and other celebrities, including Vanessa Williams, Michelle Kwan, Bianca Jagger, and Disney star Brenda Song, in opening the new Sports Experience Center on Monday, the day before the official start of the 2007 Special Olympics World Games in Shanghai.
WWE is among the sponsors of the new Sports Experience Center. The Center provides the Special Olympians at the Games the chance to meet celebrities and dignitaries to share a laugh, or have a game of table tennis, basketball, tennis or badminton, among other activities, providing a very special personal experience for all involved..
Torrie and Bianca Jagger played doubles table tennis with Special Olympians from greater China, including mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. Mick mixed it up with Special Olympians from Denmark on the badminton court before being replaced by Disney’s Brenda Song and Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president, Disney-ABC Television Group. The WWE stars also had a chance to meet with Clark T. (Sandy) Randt, the American Ambassador to The People’s Republic of China.
After the event, the WWE stars attended the Special Olympics Great Britain Welcome Reception, where Mick and Torrie had a chance to chat with some of the more than 300 members of Britain’s Special Olympics squad, all of whom were pleasantly surprised to have a chance to meet with two of their favorite WWE stars.
The Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai (October 2-11) will be the largest single sporting event in 2007. The enormity of the Games – more than 7,500 Special Olympics athletes and their families from 165 countries; tens of thousands of coaches, volunteers and Chinese citizens; competitions in 25 Olympic-type and demonstration sports at more than 20 venues – will command worldwide attention.
On Tuesday, Mick and Torrie will participate in the Opening Ceremony that officially kicks off the World Games.