For the past three decades Slovenia has been organising an annual Olympic Games-themed event for children whose health condition means they are away from school a lot. Taking place at a major rehabilitation centre, this year's event featured 42 children participating in three sports disciplines.

Held at the University Rehabilitation Institute (URI) Soča in Ljubljana on 16 April, the 31st Hospital Olympic Games featured 20 children who have been treated at the centre this year and are now attending a hospital school alongside 22 third formers from the Ledina Primary School.

Bearing in mind that it is not the winning but the taking part that counts, the kids competed in pairs, and each pair included a child who has undergone a lengthy rehabilitation process and their peer from Ledina, URI Soča said.

There were three sports disciplines adjusted to the children's physical abilities - cycling or wheelchair rides, bowling with the help of a ramp, and curling.

The children also learned about paraclimbing, an activity the centre hosts twice a week.

The event had a real Olympic feel to it as an Olympic torch was lit and the participants sang the Olympic anthem and took the Olympic oath.

The person to open the Games was paralympian Živa Lavrinc, an archer who together with Dejan Fabčič won the bronze medal at the Paris Paralympics last year.

Addressing the event, URI Soča director Roman Jakič told the kids from the hospital school they inspire determination and courage in others with their hard work and joy.

The Hospital Olympic Games hold a special place in his heart, all the more so because his son took part in the event many years ago and then went on to compete in the Paralympics.

"Twenty-three years ago, I was in this gym for the first time, at the Hospital Olympic Games, as the father of a kid who undergone rehabilitation here. At the time me and Gal did not imagine what else would be possible," Jakič said.

His son later competed three times at the Winter Paralympic Games in para-alpine skiing. "That is proof that great journeys begin with those first, small but brave steps," added the director of the centre, which occasionally also treats children injured in conflicts abroad.

The Ledina school has been the engine behind efforts to help children regain academic progress during hospitalization or rehabilitation ever since the late 1950s, but the first lessons in the Ljubljana children's hospital actually began even earlier, in 1951.

The Hospital Olympic Games are the brainchild of hospital school teachers, who back in 1992 decided to encourage their students to take part in sport and believe in themselves despite their health restrictions, reads a post on the hospital school's website.