2011 Winter Deaflympics

17th Winter Deaflympics
Host city Vysoke Tatry
Nations participating 25 countries
Athletes participating 252 athletes
Events 30 (5 disciplines)
Opening ceremony 18 February 2011
Closing ceremony 26 February 2011

The 2011 Winter Deaflympics officially known as the 17th Winter Deaflympics was originally scheduled to be held from 18 February 2011 to 26 February 2011 in Vysoke Tatry, Slovakia. This was the first time that Slovakia was selected to host a Deaflympic event. But the multi-sporting event was cancelled due to the lack of preparations, lack of readiness and reluctance by the Deaflympic Committee of Slovakia prior to the event. The event was also cancelled mainly due to the alleged fraud by the former President of the Deaflympic Committee of Slovakia, Jaromir Ruda.[1] The Winter Games was cancelled and was postponed to 2015, which was the 17th Winter Deaflympics.[2][3]

Bidding and organization

Vysoke Tatry was selected as the host city for the 17th Winter Deaflympics which was approved by the 39th Congress of International Committee of Sports for the Deaf on 4 January,2005 in Australia, Melbourne just before the 2005 Summer Deaflympics.[4]About 438 athletes and 25 countries were estimated to compete in the multi-sport event.[5][6]

Crisis and controversies

The 2011 Winter Games was also temporarily cancelled by the Comite International des Sports des Sourds on the 11th of May, 2010 due to the delay in arrangements for the commencement of the Winter Games.[7][8][9]Apart from the lack of preparations, it was revealed that the President of the Deaflympic Organizing Committee of Slovakia involved in the fraud scam (accused of diverting in excess of 1.7 euros) relating to the funds which was transferred to the Deaflympic Committee of Slovakia by other national deaf sports federations was misused by the Committee and the President of the Federation.[10][11]The ICSD filed a criminal complaint against him and against the Committee demanding the reimbursement of the funds in order to cover the hotel accommodations and other relevant expenditures for the arrangement of the multi-sporting event. In 2011 August, Jaromir Ruda was sentenced to 13 years in prison for also involving in 11 other fraud cases.[12][13][14][15]The FIR also resulted in the suspension of the Deaflympic Committee of Slovakia and the ICSD decided to skip the planned Winter Games after the ICSD couldn't able to refund the sufficient funds.[16][17]

References

  1. ↑ "Deaf News: Organiser of the failed 2011 Winter Deaflympics sentenced to prison for fraud". The Limping Chicken. 2013-07-24. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  2. ↑ "Slovakia Winter Deaflympics Officially Declared Cancelled". Disabled World. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  3. ↑ "Winter deaf games cancellation met with anger". CBC Sports. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  4. ↑ "39th Congress of ICSD | Deaflympics". www.deaflympics.com. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  5. ↑ "Z olympiády sú zatiaľ len sľuby". Pravda.sk (in Slovak). 2011-02-10. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  6. ↑ "Winter Deaflympic Games Fiasco - Slovakia 2011". Storify. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  7. ↑ "News | Deaflympics". www.deaflympics.com. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  8. ↑ "Slovakia: Deaflympics 2011 Controversy · Global Voices". Global Voices. 2011-02-11. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  9. ↑ "ICSD statement on 2011 Winter Deaflympics | UK Deaf Sport". ukdeafsport.org.uk. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  10. ↑ "Deaflympics: The rubbish tycoon and the games that were dumped". The Independent. 2011-04-13. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  11. ↑ "Deaflympiádu zrušili, Slovensko má svetovú hanbu". Pravda.sk (in Slovak). 2011-02-14. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  12. ↑ "Deaflympics Fraudster Ruda Guilty of 11 More Crimes". The Daily Slovak News. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  13. ↑ "Exšéf deaflympionikov Jaromír Ruda dostal 14,5 roka". www.pluska.sk. 2013-11-06. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  14. ↑ "Kauza tunelovania deflympiády ukončená: Jaromír Ruda dostal 13 rokov!". Topky.sk. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  15. ↑ a.s., Petit Press. "Ruda sentenced to 13 years in prison". spectator.sme.sk. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  16. ↑ "WFD Statement on the Cancellation of the 17th Winter Deaflympics - WFD". WFD. 2011-02-18. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  17. ↑ "ICSD regrets for cancellation of 2011 Winter Deaflympics". www.deaflympics.com. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.