ATHENS, July 4 -- Greece said goodbye on Monday evening to the "wonderful world of the winners" which unfolded in Athens since June 25 during the 2011 World Summer Special Olympics, with a moving closing ceremony staged at the Panathinaikon Stadium, sending the globe the message that the struggle for an international community that respects differences, continues.

At the marble venue that hosted the first modern Olympic Games in the 19th century, the Special Olympics flag was handed over to the Organizing Committee of the 2013 World Winter Games PyeongChang in South Korea, as thousands of enthusiastic Greek and foreign fans of the Games celebrated along the 7,000 athletes from 180 countries and regions who competed in Athens, thanking them for the hope and inspiration they offered to all people of the world.

Greece said goodbye on Monday evening to the "wonderful world of the winners" which unfolded in Athens since June 25 during the 2011 World Summer Special Olympics, with a moving closing ceremony staged at the Panathinaikon Stadium.

"We hope you will never forget the faces of these athletes who teach us the way to our own personal victories," Special Olympics Chairman Timothy Shriver said, addressing the event which started with a parade of about 300 athletes, representing almost four million Special Olympics athletes with mental disabilities worldwide.

"We will never forget you," replied a British athlete on behalf of all Special Olympics champions who competed in Athens.

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