Aurora, IND – ESPN has announced that Special Olympics Indiana – Ripley Ohio Dearborn
Counties’ athlete, Chris Perdue of Osgood, will be returning, for the third consecutive year, to
the X Games Aspen 2019 for the annual Special Olympics Unified Snowboarding Races. The X
Games will take place from January 22-26 on Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colorado.
Coverage of the X Games can be viewed on ESPN and ABC.
Perdue is one of ten Special Olympics athletes from around the world selected by ESPN and Special Olympics to demonstrate their snowboarding skills at the Unified event during the X
Games. ESPN is the global presenting sponsor and official media sponsor of Special Olympics
Unified Sports.
Unified Sports is an inclusive sports program that combines an approximately equal number
of Special Olympics athletes (individuals with intellectual disabilities) and partners (individuals
without intellectual disabilities) on teams for training and competition. Three models exist
within Unified Sports: competitive Unified Sports, Unified Sports Player Development and
Unified Sports Recreation. All three models provide different types of experiences in team
sports such as basketball, football, and volleyball and in other sports such as bocce, golf and
tennis. Unified Sports is now offered throughout the world and has been a Special Olympics
internationally sanctioned program since 1989.
Perdue will be partnered with Mike Schultz, an American Snowmobiler. Schultz is a threesport
X Games athlete with the most adaptive gold medals in X Game history — he has eight
between SnoCross Adaptive and Moto X Racing Adaptive. He’s won SnoCross Adaptive every
time he’s competed; a 2016 win brought the total to five.
Schultz is an above-the-knee amputee who created his own knee and prosthetic leg to
accommodate his activities. The self-trained engineer now has a successful business, Biodapt,
serving adaptive athletes and veterans. He builds prosthetics for several of his competitors.
For the fifth consecutive year, this event will provide an opportunity for X Games Aspen pro
athletes and fans to see the power of Special Olympics in action. The Unified Snowboarding
Races will provide professional winter sports athletes an opportunity to partner with Special
Olympics athletes on X Games slopes. Through this event, Special Olympics will further
cultivate another annual tradition that celebrates individuals with and without intellectual
disabilities partnering in sports.
While in Aspen, Perdue will also compete in the Sixth Annual Hannah Teter Special Olympics
Unified Dual Slalom Race on the Silver Dip NASTAR Course on Aspen Mountain. Twenty-five
snowboarders including Hannah Teter, representatives of Perfect Sense, the event sponsor,
and the ten Special Olympics athletes, and Olympic and action sports athletes will participate.
In 2017, Perdue captured a gold medal in his division of the Advanced Giant Slalom at the
Special Olympics World Winter Games held in Austria. Perdue competed against athletes
from all around the world. In the Advanced Giant Slalom event he challenged a total of eight
athletes from New Zealand, Switzerland, Japan, Austria, and Korea. Prior to the World Games,
Perdue competed at the X Games with Unified Partner, Danny Davis taking seventh place.
Last year, partnered with Schultz the team took fifth place.
Perdue, 20 years old, trains at Perfect North Slopes in Lawrenceburg. He’s been involved in
Special Olympics for the past eight years, after being introduced to the organization by his
Special Ed teacher from South Ripley High School. During the recent Winter Games of Special
Olympics Indiana held at Perfects, Perfect North Slopes learned of Perdue’s return to the X
Games and provided him with a new pair of snowboarding boots for his trip.
ABOUT X GAMES:
X Games, an annual sports event controlled and arranged by American sports broadcaster,
ESPN (with coverage also shown on its sister network ABC) returns to Aspen, Colorado’s
Buttermilk Mountain from January 22-26. Inviting the top Ski, Snowboard, Snowmobile and
Snow Bike athletes to compete in 18 different disciplines over four days of the world’s
premier winter extreme action sports, music and festival.
ABOUT SPECIAL OLYMPICS
Special Olympics is an international organization that changes lives by promoting
understanding, acceptance and inclusion between people with and without intellectual
disabilities. Through year-round athletic training and competition in 26 Olympic-type sports
for more than 2.25 million children and adults with intellectual disabilities in more than 150
countries, Special Olympics has created a model community that celebrates people’s diverse
gifts. Founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Special Olympics provides people with
intellectual disabilities continuing opportunities to realize their potential, develop physical
fitness, demonstrate courage and experience joy and friendship. There is no cost to
participate in Special Olympics. Visit Special Olympics at www.specialolympics.org.
ABOUT SPECIAL OLYMPICS INDIANA
Special Olympics Indiana provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in over
21 Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, reaching over
14,000 athletes across Indiana. The organization receives no federal or state appropriated
funds, is not a United Way agency and relies entirely on corporate, civic and individual
donations. For more information about Special Olympics Indiana, call (317) 328-2000 or visit
www.soindiana.org.
ABOUT SPECIAL OLYMPICS INDIANA – RIPLEY OHIO DEARBORN COUNTIES
Special Olympics Indiana-Ripley Ohio Dearborn Counties is part of the international network
of accredited Special Olympics Programs that reaches more than 4 million athletes with
intellectual disabilities worldwide. The program provides year-round sports training and
athletic competition in Track and Field, Aquatics, Basketball, Bowling, Bocce, Corn Toss,
Powerlifting, Softball, Snowshoeing, Alpine Skiing, Snowboarding, Flag Football, Volleyball,
and Equestrian. Reaching approximately 256 children and adults with intellectual disabilities,
the Program is managed by a group of volunteers who give time to a program they believe in.
The Program relies entirely on corporate, civic, and individual donations on the local level. For
more information about Special Olympics Indiana – Ripley Ohio Dearborn Counties, call
Program Coordinator Greg Townsend at (812) 584-6861, email [email protected] or
visit www.soindiana-rod.org.
