It is Day 1 of the National Games and we are looking forward to many sports competitions, the official opening of the Healthy Athletes® program and more. An overview of the day's highlights can be found here.
- Our athletes start with the divisioning competitions in almost all sports.
- The Healthy Athletes® health program has its grand opening at 10:00am.
- The first medal decisions are made in Roller Skating competitions at Eissporthalle on the grounds of Olympiapark.
After the almost 4,000 athletes have already trained on site yesterday, the competitions finally start today. Except for triathlon, powerlifting and roller skating, the divisioning takes place in all sports today.
Divisioning or classification is an important principle of Special Olympics. Everyone should have a fair chance for a good placement and an exciting competition. For this, homogeneous groups with a comparable level of performance are required.
And that is why division competitions are held during the first days of the National Games to divide the performance groups.
![The photo shows two people during an Healthy Athletes eye examination.](https://assets.berlin2023.org/dims4/default/47014c1/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1890x1264+0+0/resize/800x535!/format/jpg/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fberlin-2023-brightspot.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2F62%2F1c%2F3eb670a040e1b1f8c75ea70a916c%2F200203me-special-olympic16-kopie.jpg)
Also on the schedule today at 10:00am on Maifeld in Olympiapark is the official opening of the Healthy Athletes® program. Healthy Athletes® is the world's largest health program specializing in the needs of people with intellectual disabilities.
Especially exciting is the day for all participants in roller skating. After the divisioning competitions happen in the morning, the first decisive finals start at 1:50pm, followed by the Award Ceremonies. All the action happens until 4:00pm in the Eissporthalle on the grounds of Olympiapark.
For last-minute visitors, tickets are still available for purchase online or on site.