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Case Study • 5 minute read

Special Olympics: From Paper Schedules to the Most Ambitious App in USA Games History

Using AI, WWT built the Champions app to deliver more than anyone thought possible for every athlete, coach, fan, volunteer, delegate and guest in attendance.

In this case study

 Situation

Flag football player in a red jersey runs with the ball while an Oklahoma defender chases close behind on a turf field

Every four years, thousands of athletes arrive at the Special Olympics USA Games after countless hours of hard work committed to earning their spot. For decades, the technology behind the experience of the Games — for athletes, coaches, families, fans and organizers alike — hadn't kept pace.

Coaches received printed schedules and scrambled to redistribute updates when plans changed. Heads of delegation spent hours manually building day-by-day itineraries. Families had no reliable way to know when and where their athletes would compete. The gap between the organization's mission and the everyday Games experience was real. It was time to close it.

Special Olympics chose World Wide Technology (WWT) to build its Champions app, and together we set out to change what the Games could be.

 

-Christy Sovereign, President and CEO, 2026 Special Olympics USA Games

  

 The impact of the Champions app 

Basketball players in white and navy-and-gold jerseys jump for a Wilson basketball during a jump ball indoors.

25% more features. AI coding tools compressed days of work into hours, making room for a richer app experience with more features than the budget and timeline would have allowed with half the team size and no development downtime.

67% lower hosting costs. Working with AWS, we architected a cloud infrastructure that gives Special Olympics a platform it can build on for Games to come.

100% on the first pass. Every system, every integration, every user flow performed as designed during the pre-Games test event.

Built to last. The Champions app was designed and architected to grow with Special Olympics so future Games can build on it rather than start from scratch.

 How we did it 

Shared values were the starting point. Here's how they shaped the work.

Two smartphone screens showing the Special Olympics USA Games' Champions app, with a home feed on the left and an athlete profile page with a first-place medal and cheer options on the right

 We listened before we built

Through working sessions with athletes, coaches, families, volunteers and Special Olympics leaders, our team mapped more than 150 design considerations across eight user types. We went beyond surveying, attending planning events and operational rehearsals to learn how the Games actually run and let their mission inspire every decision we made.

 We designed for everyone

Accessibility is a design principle for us, not a checklist. The Champions app meets WCAG standards with large touch targets, screen reader support, voice-enabled search and plain-language content throughout. These features were built in from the start to empower athletes, coaches and families alike, and tested with the people who use them most. 

 We built faster with AI

We used AI coding tools to deliver features faster than the original roadmap projected. One standout was an AI-powered natural language search engine, built in one month instead of three, that lets athletes and attendees ask questions and receive answers by voice or text. 

 We left nothing to chance

The USA Summer Games happen once every four years. Special Olympics has one chance to get the app experience right. Our team ran a full-scale test event alongside the organizing committee, validating every integration and user flow. Every system performed as designed.

 

-Lonnie Snyder, Chief Technology and Information Officer, 2026 Special Olympics USA Games

  

 Inside the app

Three smartphone screens showing the Special Olympics USA Games's Champions app's cheers feature, including an athlete profile for sending cheers, a notification list of received cheers, and a screen for sending cheers to followed athletes

The Champions app connects every schedule, result, communication and experience into one seamless platform:

  • Real-time, personalized schedules for athletes, coaches and families
  • Champion Cheers, which delivers crowd encouragement directly to every competing athlete
  • AI-powered search by voice or text
  • Live competition results
  • Augmented reality (AR) powered turn-by-turn venue navigation
  • Digital health passport for streamlined screenings
  • Volunteer coordination tools
  • Wall of Cheers keepsake for every athlete

 How can we help you?

We help organizations design and build digital experiences that exceed expectations. Then, we execute at scale so you can:

  • Deliver more with AI, expanding features and capabilities without extending your timeline.
  • Create lasting connections through personalized, inclusive digital experiences that bring your community together.
  • Reach every user with accessibility-first design, built in from the start.
  • Scale with confidence using architecture engineered for longevity, growth and what comes next.
  • Make complex information accessible, organizing large volumes of data into experiences that are intuitive and easy for every user to navigate.
Three smartphone screens showing Special Olympics USA Games' Champions app's voice search, venue map with a swimming center location, and a first-place soccer results notification.