Great Britain's Special Olympics body wants to achieve record participation in sport for people with an intellectual disability by 2024.
An estimated 1.5 million people in Great Britain live with an intellectual disability. Special Olympics GB said that community has been "disproportionately negatively affected" by the COVID-19 pandemic, both in terms of death rate and in funding opportunities.
Special Olympics GB provides regular sport for 10,000 athletes and is looking to grow that number to 13,000 by 2024, a number it then hopes to increase significantly in the following years.
The four-year plan is supported by a funding target of £7 million. Special Olympics GB does not receive money directly from the National Lottery and so is seeking new government funding on top of private investment to meet that target.
Special Olympics GB hopes the combination of increased participation and improved funding will help towards a successful bid to host a future World Summer Games of the Special Olympics, which it feels would be a watershed moment for people with intellectual disabilities.
"We believe that bidding to host a World Games would ensure that our athletes are treated with the same level of importance as their Olympic and Paralympic counterparts," said Michelle Carney, CEO of Special Olympics GB.
"Britain has hosted a large number of global sporting events, and if we are truly committed to levelling up and being truly inclusive as a society, then surely it makes sense to back national and world events which are focused on people with an intellectual disability."