From Eddie Goldman’s ADCC News
WRESTLING TO BE FEATURED AT 2005 DEAFLYMPICS IN MELBOURNE, JAN. 7-13
Submitted by: E.Goldman/Boxing & Wrestling Editor
Posted On 01/07/2005
The 20th Deaflympic Summer Games are underway in Melbourne, Australia, and wrestling is one of the many sports being contested.
The Deaflympic Games are held to give deaf athletes an opportunity to compete in a major international sporting event which takes into account their special communications needs. Eligible athletes are defined by the organizers of this event as those who have ‘at least 55 decibels of hearing loss in their better ear,’ according to the official Deaflympics web site. The rules in the sports contested are thus the same as those used in the Olympics and other international competitions, with the sole exception being that in the Deaflympics there is the need for visual auditory cues.
The Deaflympics started over 80 years ago. They have been organized since 1924 by the ComitÃ,© International des Sports des Sourds, CISS (The International Committee of Sports for the Deaf). The first summer games were held in Paris, with Winter Games being added in 1949. The Deaflympics are sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee.
This year, according to their web site, about 3,000 deaf athletes from about 80 nations are slated to participate in the summer games. The 16th Winter Games will be hosted in Park City, Utah, in 2007.
Wrestling is the only combat sport on the program of the 20th Deaflympic Summer Games. The other sports are listed are athletics (track & field), badminton, basketball, cycling, football (soccer), handball, marathon, orienteering, shooting, swimming, table tennis, tennis, tenpin bowling, volleyball, beach volleyball, and water polo.
The wrestling competition at the 20th Deaflympic Games will use standard FILA rules for both freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, although the new, revised 2005 FILA rules will not yet be used. The Australian Wrestling Union has been assigned the task of running the Deaflympics’ wrestling competition.
There will also be random doping tests at the Deaflympic Games, which will be conducted by the Australian Sports Drug Agency.
The wrestling at the 20th Deaflympic Games will be held at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre on Albert Park Lake. The wrestling will be set up in the building’s Basketball Hall, using two mats.
The Greco competition will take place Jan. 7-9, and the freestyle Jan. 11-13. There is no listing for any women’s freestyle competition at this event.
For more information, including results, go to the event’s web sites at:
http://www.2005deaflympics.com/
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