2012 World Deaf Athletics Championships

With under two years to go till the 2012 World Deaf Athletics Championships (WDAC) will take place in Toronto (Ontario, Canada) from July 15 to 21, 2012!

It will not only be a celebration of our distinguished Deaf athletes, but also a celebration of the very diverse Global Deaf Community as individuals of various backgrounds from all across North America and around the world unites.

The website is currently in its middle-to-last stage of development. You will be able to find all the information you need on this website (www.deaflympics.com), as well as registering/making reservations for the 2012 WDAC!

We will keep in touch with them and update you as information becomes available.

The Deaf Olympics are held every 4 years, and are the longest running multi-sport event excluding the Olympics themselves. The first games, held in Paris in 1924, were also the first ever international sporting event for athletes with a disability. 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. At the first Games in Paris, 145 athletes from nine European nations took part. In 2005 the 20th Games were held in Melbourne, Australia, and according to the Deaflympics website, "[m]ore than 3,200 deaf athletes and officials from 67 nations" participated.

Officially, the games were originally called the "International Games for the Deaf" from 1924 to 1965, but were sometimes 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 2000, the games have been known by their current name "Deaflympics" (often mistakenly called the "Deaf Olympics").

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. Other examples of ways the games vary from hearing competitions are the manner in which they are officiated. The football referees wave a flag instead of blowing a whistle. On the track, races are started by using a light flash, instead of a starter pistol. It is also customary for spectators not to cheer or clap.