Entertainment

Justin Bieber Walks Out With Team Canada At Special Olympics World Games Opening Ceremony

Published on: July 26, 2015 at 6:37 AM
By Page Mackinley

Justin Bieber showed his support for Team Canada at the Special Olympics World Games 2015 by joining and cheering the special athletes in the walk-out at the opening ceremony yesterday.

The Canadian superstar pumped up the 114-strong Canadian team in a chant of “Let’s go Canada, Let’s go Canada!” as they joined the 6,500 athletes from 164 other countries from around the world. The Special Olympics World Games opening ceremony was held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday.

Bieber tweeted a video of himself walking out onto the field with Team Canada and urged his over 65 million followers to watch the festivities on ESPN.

Bieber also took selfies with some special athletes. As might be expected, the heartthrob featured in videos and tweets shared by reporters, participants, and other guests.

Meanwhile, E! host and author Maria Menounos tweeted pictures of herself with Justin, Australian star Cody Simpson , and Maria Shriver — whose late mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Special Olympics in 1968 after running backyard competitions at her home for years.

Menounos also thrilled Justin Bieber fans , by tweeting, “#specialolympics! @codysimpson @mariashriver @justinbeiber..justin gave me a sneak peak of his new single-so cool!”

She went on to add that the Biebs even sang his new single to her.

Justin Bieber wasn’t the only celebrity at the Opening Ceremony. Although he was to some young girls in the crowd.

Stevie Wonder and Avril Lavigne were among the performers. First lady Michelle Obama delivered the opening message, and talk show host Jimmy Kimmel addressed the crowd.

Kimmel told the assembled Special Olympians, “You remind me of how deeply lazy a man I am.”

Then, referring to California’s drought, he quipped that the Olympic flame “will truly burn forever because we don’t have the water to put it out.”

How big a deal is the 2015 Special Olympics World Games ? Well, the games return to the U.S. for the first time in 16 years, and it is the biggest world-stage event in L.A. since the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Millions are expected to pile into venues across L.A. over the next nine days to watch and cheer on the intellectually disabled athletes as they compete in 25 sports over nine days. Some events will also include non-disabled participants in “unified sports” contests.

An impressively starry line-up of gold medalists from the traditional Olympics welcomed the Special Olympians to the City of Angels. These included swimmer Michael Phelps, diver Greg Louganis, gymnastics champ Nadia Comeneci, and decathlon champ Rafer Johnson.

Will you be tuning in to watch Team Canada , Team USA, and the rest compete?

[Images via AP/ESPN]

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