Funding fingers crossed for the World Deaf Games

Press, 1 June 1988, Page 21

Funding fingers crossed for the World Deaf Games

By

BARBARA ARNOLD

Next January, a blue and green flag will be hoisted above the Queen Elizabeth II Park stadium. It will remain from January 7 to 17, signifying that the sixteenth World Games for the Deaf, are taking place there.

It is the first time a Southern Hemisphere country has hosted the games. The first World Games for the Deaf, then known as the International Silent Games, were held in 1924, in Paris. Before that, little importance had been attached to . international sports by young deaf people. That caused a deaf Frenchman, E. RubensAleais, to persuade six official national federations to accept the idea and take part in the first event, a deaf version of the Olympic Games. Participating nations were Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Poland. Competitors from Hungary, Italy and Rumania, also took part although those countries had no official federations. Competitions held were athletics, cycling, football, shooting and swimming. After the success of those games, deaf sporting leaders assembled and agreed to found an organisation named Comite’ International des Sports des Sourds (International Committee of Silent Sports). The last World Games for the Deaf were held in Los Angeles,: and in 1993. They will be jn Bulgaria. The number of countries affiliated to the C.I.S.S. has now grown to 45. They represent 1403 deaf sports clubs with a total membership of 84,900 worldwide. New Zealand has eight Clubs, with a total of 500 members, and was accepted as a member of the C.I.S.S. in 1955 at Oberammergau. In 1961, at the Helsinki Games, John Mcßae won New Zealand’s first-ever medals in the Games — a silver for freestyle wrestling and a bronze for Graeco-Roman wrestling. With an organising committee consisting of both deaf and hearing people, preparations for Christchurch are wi|U in hand.

Competitors (1420 so far from 20 different countries) will be billeted at Lincoln College, the University of Canterbury, and St Andrew’s Collie.

A hundred volunteers are being trained in the use of sign language to assist competitors, games officials and visitors. In the evenj of injuries,

interpreters will be available at hospitals and St Johns Ambulance. A scheme will start later this year for companies wanting to train staff to provide a

to deaf customers, as well as trained interpreters to the games organisation as part of their sponsorship. Organisers envisage both opening and closing ceremonies as being much like those .of the Commonwealth Games, although on a smaller scale and predominantly visual. Along with the raising of the C.I.S.S. flag and a march-past of athletes, a score of other events are being planned. Organisers anticipate large crowds at the games themselves. There is already an indication that 2000 overseas visitors are expected. Although the games are run under Olympic rules, there will be two events not included in the Olympics: lawn tennis and handball. The latter has never been played on a major scale in New Zealand before.

Each individual sport will have appointed to it one major international official or technical delegate who is deaf. The organising committee will provide umpires, referees, track officials and so on, each of whom will be accompanied by a trained interpreter. Since some signs vary from country to country, each team will bring one Englishspeaking interpreter. As far as practical details, such as starting the events, are concerned, the organisers anticipate no major difficulties. Swimming events will be started by a small electric impulse coming from a pad on the starting block. False starts will be shown by a rope across the pool. The start of shooting events will be indicated by lights, and athletic and other events by both gun and flag. The wearing of hearing aids by competitors during international competitions is illegal. Funds for the Christchurch games are slow in coming. They will cost $500,000 to host, but Norman McPherson, the games executive officer, thinks the target figure will be achieved. “We believe New Zealand is a caring nation, and it is time we showed the way by assisting a handicapped group. of New Zealanders to host the games,”, he says. ■ . ’