WARNER ROBINS, Ga. (WGXA) -- Special Olympics Georgia is the first and only non- profit organization that offers training and competition to people with intellectual disabilities.

More than seventeen thousand athletes participate in twenty-seven different sports.

Warner Robins Police Officer Greg Martin was selected to escort the flame of hope at the State Winter Games.

It's an experience he doesn't take for granted, saying, "Every time I been chosen to carry the torch, it's been an honor."

The Officer Torch Run for the Special Olympics was started in the eighties.

At first... It included just a few officers but Martin says the goal for the founders was to make the event special... Just like the Olympics.

Martin says the event is now international and has grown to be the largest in the world. "Law Enforcement Torch Run is the Special Olympics of what the fire department is to MDA."

Warner Robins raised more than eighteen thousand dollars for Special Olympics Georgia, hosting events like polar plunge, cops on donut shops, and hosting the Law Enforcement Torch Run Bass Tournament.

Martin says these athletes deserve the same opportunity as anyone else. "Everyone that's involved just wants to give them that experience and so being able to compete in the Olympics."

Martin says he no stranger to the Special Olympics... He's been involved since high school, an interest that he wanted to take with him in his career. "When I found out it was to benefit the Special Olympics, I was all on it."

And now Martin says the reward is breathtaking. "A lot of officers that have gotten involved, started out just attending games and handing out medals, and the first time that they put a medal around an athlete's neck and they get that smile and that hug, man it seals the deal. There's no greater feeling in the world."