2025 was the year of the Special Olympics Gibraltar 40th National Games, and the games will be remembered as the most successful yet in their 40-year history with a record involvement in some very memorable competitions. The Games opened on the Wednesday evening with some 60 Gibraltar athletes parading into the Lathbury stadium behind the Special Olympics flag, along with the Isle of Man team and the LETR torch runners, and finished as usual on the Friday evening with the swimming competition, at the Lathbury pool followed by the closing ceremony. As usual the opening ceremony included the lighting of the cauldron, the reading of the Special Olympics Oath, this year by veteran athlete Manolo Spiteri, and the raising of the Special Olympics flag.
The athletics competition took place immediately after the opening ceremony and was a demonstration of some remarkable efforts by athletes who had been training for the Games throughout the year. There were some very close races witnessed by the crowd of very vocal supporters and VIPs including Government and Opposition MPs, and His Excellency the Governor Lt. Gen Sir Benjamin Bathurst, who had previously declared the Games open. It culminated in the usual exciting 4 x 100m relay between Team Gibraltar and Team Isle of Man which had looked to be close but the local lads finally proving worthy winners in the final sprint by athlete Francis Avellano.
Athletics results:-
| Event | Distance | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 1 | 25m | Raiden Alvarez Busto | Julian J Baldachino | Alexandra Perera |
| 2 | 25m | Zyandra Bossino | Jax Alvarez Busto | Leila To |
| 3 | 25m | John Bossino | Naim Hasisen | Graeme Brooking |
| 4 | 25m | Sam Galloway | Manolo Spiteri | |
| 5 | 200m | Francis Avellano | Shane Martinez | Nathan Borge |
| 6 | 200m | Francis Mauro | Max Desoiza | Ryan Viagas |
| 7 | 50m | Frederick Barker | Seth Garcia | Hannah Colton |
| 8 | 50m | Raiden Alvarez Busto | Alexandra Perera | John Bossino |
| 9 | 50m | Zyandra Bossino | Nicola Wooldridge | Jax Alvarez Busto |
| 10 | 100m | Francis Avellano | Shane Martinez | Nathan Borge |
| 11 | 100m | Frederick Barker | Seth Garcia | Ryan Viagas |
| 12 | 100m | Jessie Dos Santos | Gino Francis | Charlie Balloqui |
| 13 | 4 x 100m Relay | Team Gibraltar | Team Isle of Man |
The Games continued on the Wednesday with the futsal tournament in the SOG Sports Complex. Unfortunately the Isle of Man team had to pull out of the Games at this stage due to illness. However for the first time this year there was a futsal team from Estepona taking part and also the team from Algeciras who have now become regulars. Neither proved too strong for the local players though and Gibraltar took gold having comfortably beaten Algeciras 5-0 and Estepona 12-0. Algeciras claimed the silver medal and Estepona came third in bronze medal position.
In the afternoon there was the ever-popular bocce competition in the SOG Sports Complex. With the Isle of Man absent the schedule was reorganised into a round-robin doubles tournament between the 5 Gibraltar pairs taking part. In some exciting games the eventual winners were the youngest players present, Frederick Barker and Seth Garcia, who won all 4 of their matches taking gold medal position. Silver medals went to brothers Miguel Rubio and Malcolm Miel who won 3 matches with, another team of brothers, Dorian and Marvin Zammit coming in bronze position winning 2 of their 4 matches. Julian De Las Heras and Dominick Hemmi came 4th winning 1 match and a combined team of Manolo Spiteri, Alfred Celecia and Francis Avellano came in 5th.
The final day of the Games started with the bowling competition at the Kings Bowl Bowling Alley and a singles and doubles tournament. In the doubles tournament Shane Martinez and Frederick Barker won gold in their division beating Dorian Zammit and Miguel Rubio by 498 points to 394. In their respective division Samyr Anakkar and Patrick Slater beat JJ Buttigieg and Jeffrey Migliori by 454 to 432 points. In the singles there were golds for Dorian Zammit, Shane Martinez, Frederick Barker, Jeffrey Migliori, Alfred Celecia, Max DeSoiza and Manolo Spiteri all winning their respective divisions.
On Friday evening the aquatics event took place at the Lathbury pool. After the usual parade of athletes the competition started with 10 fiercely fought races culminating in the 4 x 25m mixed relay between 3 Gibraltar teams. The close result shows the strength of swimmers we have in Gibraltar. The team consisting of Douglas Pitaluga, Dario Vassallo, Glen Wimbleton and JJ Buttigieg finished in 1m:24s to claim gold ahead of Max Desoiza, Seth Garcia, Christopher Joyce and Samuel Santos (1m:30s) with silver and Hannah Colton, Francis Mauro, Sallyann Mauro and Ivan Gomez Mannion in bronze medal position after 1m:33s.
Aquatics results:-
| Event | Race | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 1 | 25m Free | Karon Fortunato | Dario Vassallo | Seth Garcia |
| 2 | 100m Free | Samuel Santos | Ivan Gomez Mannion | Douglas Pitaluga |
| 3 | 25m Free | Javier Valarino | Alfred Celecia | Graeme Brooking |
| 4 | 25m Free | Glen Wimbleton | Sallyann Mauro | Christopher Joyce |
| 5 | 50m Free | Ivan Gomez Mannion | Douglas Pitaluga | Francis Mauro |
| 6 | 50m Free | Stephen Balban | Glen Wimbleton | Sallyann Mauro |
| 7 | 50m Butterfly | Samuel Santos | Ivan Gomez Mannion | Douglas Pitaluga |
| 8 | 50m Free | Seth Garcia | Dario Vassallo | |
| 9 | 25m Back | Francis Mauro/Stephen Balban | Hannah Colton | |
| 10 | 4 x 25m Relay | TEAM GIB1 Douglas Pitaluga Dario Vassallo Glen Wimbleton JJ Buttigieg | TEAM GIB2 Max Desoiza Seth Garcia Christopher Joyce Samuel Santos | TEAM GIB3 Hannah Colton Francis Mauro Sallyann Mauro Ivan Gomez Mannion |
The Games were then officially closed by Sir Joe Bossano who gave the closing speech before the Olympic flag was lowered by the athletes and the Olympic flame extinguished for another year.
It was agreed by all that these games were a huge success with more participants from Gibraltar than ever before and proving once again in style what amazing achievements our athletes can accomplish.
