Toyota Becomes Special Olympics Partner

Special Olympics International has announced Toyota as a new global partner, following a ceremony at the Tokyo office of global car manufacturer.

The ceremony was attended by Special Olympics chairman Timothy Shriver, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, Special Olympics Nippon President and CEO Yuko Arimori and athletes and families participating in Special Olympics.

In addition to the global partnership with Special Olympics, Toyota has agreed to support Special Olympics Unified Sports, which joins people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team. It was inspired by a simple principle: training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding. Beginning in 2018, Toyota will be supporting Special Olympics Unified Sports programming primarily in Japan and the United States.

Toyota has been a national partner of Special Olympics Nippon since January 2016, engaging Toyota employees in volunteering and supporting Special Olympics Nippon’s local events and its National Games.

Special Olympics chairman Timothy Shriver said: “The Special Olympics movement could not be more thrilled that Toyota is partnering with us to bring the power and joy of Special Olympics Unified Sports to more people. It is when people can play and compete together – no matter their ability, race, culture, religion or background – that lines of division are erased. We thank Toyota for their support in helping us continue our charge to create inclusive communities around the world through sport.”

President Akio Toyoda added: “We would like to thank everyone involved in Special Olympics, including Chairman Timothy Shriver, for accepting Toyota as a global partner. From my own experience playing sports in my school days, I believe in the power of sports where people with various characters can come together and compete for the same goal. This leads to creating a society where people have respect for each other. Unified Sports further achieves this goal. The Toyota members who are involved in Special Olympics all love and believe in sports. Working together with the athletes, we would like to contribute to building recognition of the appeal of Special Olympics to as many people as possible.

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