Some 6,500 athletes from 165 countries - the most to converge on Los Angeles since the 1984 Summer Olympics - have poured into town this week to hit tennis balls, kick soccer balls, swim laps, ride horses, lift... The Special Olympic World Games kicked off Saturday in Los Angeles as 6,500 athletes from 165 countries streamed into the Memorial Coliseum to cheers and roars. A Northern California wildfire raced through more than six square miles of drought-stricken timber Saturday, threatening at least 150 rural homes in the Sierra Nevada, authorities said.