Deaflympics

Deaflympics Games

Deaflympics Logo
Motto	PER LUDOS AEQUALITAS (Equality through sport)
First event	1924 in Paris, France – 1924 Summer Deaflympics[1]
Occur every	4 years
Last event	2017 in Samsun, Turkey – 2017 Summer Deaflympics
Purpose	Provision of opportunities for deaf persons to participate in elite sports
Website	www.deaflympics.com www.ciss.org

The Deaflympics (previously called World Games for the Deaf, and International Games for the Deaf) are an International Olympic Committee (IOC)-sanctioned event at which deaf athletes compete at an elite level. Unlike the athletes in other IOC-sanctioned events (the Olympics, the Paralympics, and the Special Olympics), the Deaflympians cannot be guided by sounds (e.g., the starter's guns, bullhorn commands or referee whistles).^[2] The games have been organized by the Comité International des Sports des Sourds (CISS, "The International Committee of Sports for the Deaf") since the first event.

History

The Deaflympics are held every four years, and are the longest running multi-sport event excluding the Olympics themselves.^[3] The first games, held in Paris in 1924, were also the first ever international sporting event for athletes with a disability.^[4] The event has been held every four years since, apart from a break for World War II, and an additional event, the Deaflympic Winter Games, was added in 1949.^[5] The games began as a small gathering of 148 athletes from nine European nations competing in the International Silent Games in Paris, France, in 1924; now, they have grown into a global movement.^[2]

Officially, the games were originally called the "International Games for the Deaf" from 1924 to 1965, but were sometimes also referred to as the "International Silent Games". From 1966 to 1999 they were called the "World Games for the Deaf", and occasionally referred to as the "World Silent Games". From 2001, the games have been known by their current name Deaflympics (often mistakenly called the Deaf Olympics).^[5]

To qualify for the games, athletes must have a hearing loss of at least 55 db in their "better ear". Hearing aids, cochlear implants and the like are not allowed to be used in competition, to place all athletes on the same level.^[5] Other examples of ways the games vary from hearing competitions are the manner in which they are officiated. To address the issue of Deaflympians not being able to be guided by sounds, certain sports use alternative methods of commencing the game. For example, the football referees wave a flag instead of blowing a whistle; on the track, races are started by using a light, instead of a starter pistol. It is also customary for spectators not to cheer or clap, but rather to wave – usually with both hands.

Host nations and cities

To date, the Summer Deaflympic Games have been hosted by 21 cities in 17 countries, but by cities outside Europe on only six occasions (Washington D.C. 1965, Los Angeles 1985, Christchurch 1989, Melbourne 2005, Taipei 2009 and Samsun 2017). The last summer games were held in Samsun, Turkey in 2017. The Winter Deaflympic Games have been hosted by 16 cities in 11 countries. The last winter games were held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russian Federation in 2015.

The 2011 Winter Games scheduled to be held in Vysoké Tatry, Slovakia were cancelled due to the lack of readiness by the organizing committee to host the games.^[6][7] The International Committee of Deaf Sports filed a criminal complaint against the Slovak Deaflympics Organizing Committee and its President, Mr. Jaromír Ruda.^[8] The criminal complaint demands reimbursement of the funds that were transferred to the Slovak Deaflympics Organizing Committee from national deaf sports federations, to cover hotel accommodations and other Deaflympics-related expenses.^[8] According to the Slovak newspaper, SME, "Jaromír Ruda, head of the Slovak Organising Committee, [is] a champion of promises and someone who is accused of a 1.6 million Euro Deaflympics-related fraud".^[9] In a letter to the United States Deaflympians, International Committee of Sports for the Deaf ICSD President Craig Crowley expressed "his deep apologies for the cancellation of the 17th Winter Deaflympics".^[10] Currently, the Slovak Deaflympic Committee and the Slovakia Association of Deaf Sportsmen Unions have been suspended.^[11] In 2013 the Special Criminal Court in Banská Bystrica sentenced Ruda to a prison term of 14 and a half years for defrauding €1.6 million that should have been used for Winter Deaflympics.^[12]

The host cities and NOCs for all past and scheduled games are as follows:^[4][13]

List of Summer Deaflympics Hosts

1924

1928

1931

1935

1939

1949,1997

1953

1957

1961

1965

1969

1973

1977

1981

1985

1989

1993,2013

2001

2005

2009

2017

Host cities of the Summer Deaflympics

Games	Year	Host	Opened by	Dates	Nations	Competitors			Sports	Events	Top Nation
						Total	Men	Women
1	1924	Paris, France	Gaston Doumergue	10–17 August	9	148	147	1	6	31	France
2	1928	Amsterdam, Netherlands	Wilhelmina of the Netherlands	18–26 August	10	212	198	14	5	38	Great Britain
3	1931	Nuremberg, Germany		19–23 August	14	316	288	28	6	43	Germany
4	1935	London, Great Britain		17–24 August	12	221	178	43	5	41	Great Britain
5	1939	Stockholm, Sweden		24–27 August	13	250	208	42	6	43	Great Britain
6	1949	Copenhagen, Denmark		12–16 August	14	391	342	49	7	51	Great Britain
7	1953	Brussels, Belgium		15–19 August	16	473	432	41	7	57	Germany
8	1957	Milan, Italy		25–30 August	25	635	565	70	9	69	Soviet Union
9	1961	Helsinki, Finland		6–10 August	24	613	503	110	10	94	Soviet Union
10	1965	Washington DC, United States	Lyndon B. Johnson	27 June – 3 July	27	687	575	112	9	85	Soviet Union
11	1969	Belgrade, Yugoslavia		9–16 August	33	1189	964	225	12	105	Soviet Union
12	1973	Malmö, Sweden		21–28 August	31	1116	893	223	11	97	United States
13	1977	Bucharest, Romania	Nicolae Ceauşescu	17–27 July	32	1150	913	237	11	106	United States
14	1981	Köln, West Germany		23 July – 1 August	32	1198	893	305	11	110	United States
15	1985	Los Angeles, United States	Ronald Reagan	10–20 August	29	995	745	250	11	96	United States
16	1989	Christchurch, New Zealand	David Cargill	7–17 January	30	955	726	229	12	120	United States
17	1993	Sofia, Bulgaria		24 July − 2 August	52	1679	1295	384	12	126	United States
18	1997	Copenhagen, Denmark	John M. Lovett	13–26 July	65	2028	1496	534	14	140	United States
19	2001	Rome, Italy		22 July − 1 August	67	2208	1562	646	14	143	United States
20	2005	Melbourne, Australia	Marigold Southey	5–16 January	63	2038	1402	636	14	147	Ukraine
21	2009	Taipei, Taiwan	Ma Ying-jeou	5–15 September	80	2670	1714	779	17	177	Russia
22	2013	Sofia, Bulgaria Füssen, Germany	Rosen Plevneliev	26 July – 4 August	83	2711	1792	919	16	203	Russia
23	2017	Samsun, Turkey	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan	18–30 July	97	2856	1897	959	18	219	Russia
24	2021

List of Winter Deaflympics Hosts

1949

1953,1987

1955

1959

1963

1963

1971

1975

1979

1983

1991

1995

1999

2003

2007

2011

2015

2019

Host cities of the Winter Deaflympics

Games	Year	Host	Opened by	Dates	Nations	Competitors			Sports	Events	Top Nation
						Total	Men	Women
1	1949	Seefeld, Austria		26–30 February	5	33	33	0	2	5	Switzerland
2	1953	Oslo, Norway		20–24 February	6	44	42	2	4	9	Norway
3	1955	Oberammergau, Germany		10–13 February	8	59	54	5	4	11	Norway
4	1959	Montana-Vermala, Switzerland		27–31 January						14	Norway
5	1963	Åre, Sweden		12–16 March						13	Austria
6	1967	Berchtesgaden, West Germany		20–25 February						11	Norway
7	1971	Adelboden, Switzerland		25–30 February						11	Switzerland
8	1975	Lake Placid, United States		2–8 February						12	Canada
9	1979	Méribel, France		21–27 January						12	Soviet Union
10	1983	Madonna di Campiglio, Italy		13–23 January						17	Soviet Union
11	1987	Oslo, Norway		7–14 February						18	Norway
12	1991	Banff, Canada		2–9 March						18	Soviet Union
13	1995	Ylläs, Finland		14–19 March						15	Russia
14	1999	Davos, Switzerland		6–14 March						17	Russia
15	2003	Sundsvall, Sweden		26 February – 9 March						23	Russia
16	2007	Salt Lake City, United States		1–10 February						26	Russia
17	2011	Vysoké Tatry, Slovakia		16–28 February	–	–	–	–	–	–	Cancelled
18	2015	Khanty-Mansiysk and Magnitogorsk, Russia		28 March – 5 April						31	Russia
19	2019	TBC

All-time medal table

Summer Deaflympics

An all-time Summer Deaflympics from 1924 Summer Deaflympics to 2017 Summer Deaflympics, is tabulated below. The table is simply the consequence of the sum of the medal tables of the various editions of the Summer Deaflympics. ^[14]

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	355	310	338	1003
2	Russia	240	151	220	611
3	Soviet Union	173	124	108	405
4	Germany	168	207	207	582
5	Ukraine	101	84	130	315
6	Iran	89	69	78	236
7	Italy	88	84	111	283
8	Great Britain	68	85	95	248
9	Japan	67	65	50	182
10	France	66	90	92	248
11	Sweden	64	80	60	204
12	South Korea	62	57	41	160
13	Hungary	51	44	38	133
14	Finland	47	51	47	145
15	Denmark	46	40	53	139
16	China	46	36	44	126
17	Australia	39	24	30	93
18	Belarus	37	40	26	103
19	Poland	36	54	72	162
20	South Africa	35	18	9	62
21	Turkey	34	36	60	130
22	Netherlands	32	35	28	95
23	Norway	32	28	25	85
24	Canada	31	40	37	108
25	Chinese Taipei	27	31	34	92
26	Yugoslavia	24	13	21	58
27	India	18	8	13	39
28	Ireland	16	15	11	42
29	Czech Republic	16	9	10	35
30	Bulgaria	15	42	49	106
31	Belgium	15	29	41	85
32	Kenya	14	13	15	42
33	Lithuania	13	17	27	57
34	Venezuela	12	10	15	37
35	Cuba	12	5	12	29
36	Estonia	11	8	13	32
37	Switzerland	9	16	16	41
38	East Germany	7	8	8	23
39	Romania	6	9	14	29
40	Greece	6	9	7	22
41	New Zealand	5	6	7	18
42	Portugal	5	4	4	13
43	Croatia	4	5	3	12
44	Czechoslovakia	3	7	9	19
45	Latvia	3	5	3	11
46	Slovakia	3	4	3	10
47	Kazakhstan	3	1	8	12
48	Puerto Rico	3	0	1	4
49	Austria	2	6	8	16
50	Thailand	2	1	0	3
51	Malaysia	1	7	3	11
52	Mongolia	1	6	13	20
53	Spain	1	3	6	10
54	Argentina	1	3	3	7
55	Mexico	1	2	3	6
56	Brazil	1	1	7	9
57	Macau	1	0	1	2
	Singapore	1	0	1	2
59	Georgia	0	2	1	3
	Nigeria	0	2	1	3
	Slovenia	0	2	1	3
62	Armenia	0	1	5	6
63	Indonesia	0	1	3	4
64	Serbia	0	1	2	3
65	Moldova	0	1	1	2
66	Ecuador	0	1	0	1
	Iceland	0	1	0	1
68	Kyrgyzstan	0	0	5	5
69	Israel	0	0	2	2
70	Colombia	0	0	1	1
	Cyprus	0	0	1	1
	Egypt	0	0	1	1
	Hong Kong	0	0	1	1
	Saudi Arabia	0	0	1	1
	Turkmenistan	0	0	1	1
	Uzbekistan	0	0	1	1
Totals (76 nations)		2269	2167	2416	6852

Winter Deaflympics

An all-time Winter Deaflympics from 1949 Winter Deaflympics to 2015 Winter Deaflympics, is tabulated below. The table is simply the consequence of the sum of the medal tables of the various editions of the Winter Deaflympics. ^[15]

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Norway	48	36	40	124
2	Russia	35	22	28	85
3	Canada	27	9	11	47
4	Soviet Union	24	26	21	71
5	Switzerland	22	29	24	75
6	Finland	21	19	20	60
7	United States	20	41	40	101
8	Italy	18	11	12	41
9	Austria	17	24	20	61
10	Czech Republic	16	5	5	26
11	Germany	13	15	28	56
12	France	10	12	8	30
13	Japan	8	2	3	13
14	Australia	6	4	1	11
15	Sweden	2	15	10	27
16	Slovakia	2	5	7	14
17	Slovenia	2	2	3	7
18	Great Britain	2	2	2	6
19	China	1	1	3	5
20	Ukraine	0	10	6	16
21	Yugoslavia	0	1	1	2
22	Lithuania	0	1	0	1
23	Croatia	0	0	1	1
	Turkey	0	0	1	1
Totals (24 nations)		294	292	295	881

Sports

See also

• Disabled sports

References

External links

• Official website
• Comité International des Sports des Sourds official website