Japanese automotive manufacturer Toyota has agreed a deal to sponsor the Special Olympics, the movement that seeks to empower athletes with intellectual disabilities.
The deal names Toyota as a global gold partner of the Special Olympics from 2018 to 2022.
Toyota will also support Special Olympics Unified Sports, which joins people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team. From next year, Toyota will support Special Olympics Unified Sports programming primarily in the US and its home market of Japan.
Toyota has been named as a global Unified Sports partner from 2018 to 2020, and as a partner of the 2018 Unified Cup, which runs from July 17-21 in the US city of Chicago.
Toyota president Akio Toyoda said: “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.”
Toyota has served as a national partner of the Special Olympics Nippon in Japan since January 2016. The company’s affiliates have also backed US-based Special Olympics programs for several years, including the 2015 Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles.
Toyota recently launched its ‘Start Your Impossible’ initiative and Special Olympic activities will be promoted alongside this campaign.