They're champions just because they are here. That's a common belief held by coaches for the ongoing Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai.

This time, the event has drawn over 2,000 coaches in addition to a record 7,500 athletes.

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Our reporter Dan Dan has more.

Reporter:

"I think the coaching of athletes is very important, not related to sports, but related to the behaviors and the social habits. It's very important to improve their life style."

That is Valkova Hana, coach of athletes in track and field from the Czech Republic.

Being involved in the cause of Special Olympics for sixteen years, Valkova Hana has been devoted to helping people with special needs.

Although the coach believes Special Olympic Games provides athletes the opportunities to have fun, the athletes themselves have different opinions.

Putzuwa Jetka, from the Czech Republic, participates in women's 400-meter relay.

"I think whether to win or to lose the competition is very important to me. I like more to be the winner."

In fact, many Special Olympic athletes have demonstrated the spirits in striving for the best throughout the Games.

Donna Diaz, a coach from the US, says the Games help to establish athletes' self-confidence.

"Being involved in sports, I think, means a lot to our athletes because it shows what their possibilities are and what they can achieve."

Although only the No.1 athlete can get a gold medal in each event, the local organizers, this time, have prepared medals for each and every athlete that has participated.

Demoor Greenlo, an US coach for track and field athletes, says, in her eyes, the athletes are all champions just because of their participation.

"The gold medal doesn't mean that they are any more than if they get a ribbon to me. As long as they have fun, they meet new friends, they learn the culture, that's what it's all about."

Gharibyan Ferdinand, deputy head of the Armenia delegation to the Shanghai Games, says that the meaning of the Special Olympic Games lies with the process in which athletes learn to grow up and to get involved in the society.

"The Games enable people with intellectual disabilities to see the care from the whole society. It enables them to know that whatever ordinary people can do, they can also make it or at least they can try their best to fulfill it."

Dan Dan, CRI News, Shanghai.