HRH CROWN PRINCE ALEXANDER II PRESENTS AWARDS TO WINNERS AT THE SPECIAL OLYMPICS EUROBASKET 2005

Belgrade, 12 September 2005 – Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Alexander II and Crown Princess Katherine attended the Special Olympics closing ceremony held under the auspices of Serbian President Boris Tadic at the Belgrade’s Sports Hall on Saturday.

The ceremony was also attended by Mr. Michael Smith, General Manager of Special Olympics for Europe and Euro-Asia and Mr. Marius Damnenko Sports Director for Europe.

The national teams of Lithuania, Estonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Turkmenistan and Macedonia won medals in their divisions, while Macedonian selection also won the fair play trophy.

HRH Crown Prince Alexander II, Mr. Smith and Mr. Damnenko presented the winners with awards.

Following the presentation, HRH Crown Prince greeted the participants and said that the support to people with special needs and their families, in their effort to take part in everyday activities and become equal members of society, shown during this event was more important than the medals they won and that the general Olympics slogan – “it is important to participate not to win” – was also applied during this competition.

Mr. Smith expressed gratitude to their Royal Highnesses for unselfishly helping people with special needs not only at such occasions but on a daily basis.

The Special Olympics were held between September 6 and 11 as an introduction to the forthcoming European Basketball Championship, Eurobasket, under the slogan ‘’Let me win but if I cannot, support my effort’’.