Heather Anderson still isn't sure of the final number of athletes expected to participate in the World Dwarf Games set to take place at the University of Guelph starting this weekend.
"I'll find out today if the athletes from Zimbabwe got their visas," said Anderson, the Erin woman responsible for organizing the event and cheering on her son who will be competing.
If the two Zimbabwean athletes arrive, there will be 430 athletes from 22 different competing countries, including 58 from Canada.
Competition is divided into categories for age, competitive level and size.
It all kicks off 7 p.m. Friday with the opening ceremonies at Alumni Stadium with athletes marching in with their country's flag and to their national anthem. There will be dignitaries and speeches in the one hour ceremony.
Competition starts Saturday and continues until Aug. 12. Badminton, bocce ball, basketball, archery, marksmanship, soccer, floor hockey, swimming, track and field, volleyball, table tennis and powerlifting are all on tap.
The athletes are staying at the U of G residences, the 900 or so people accompanying them in local hotels.
"The athletes have made huge sacrifices to get here and they're really excited," Anderson said.
There isn't a lot of funding for dwarf athletes and many have had to fundraise themselves to get here.
"From my perspective, a huge part of it is raising awareness," said Anderson, pointing out that the chances of being born with dwarfism is one in 26,000.
For the athletes it's a chance to compete on a level playing field.
"The point of the event is to compete with people of similar stature," Anderson said.
While the athletes all play sports, they are usually playing with people of average size.
"It's a nice experience to be hanging out with people who understand your life a little bit more than the average size person would."
The events are free and open to the public. A full schedule of events can be found here on the official games web site.
