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As Paralympics near to close, another Winter Games for Vancouver in 2015
They won’t be as big as the Olympics, or even the Paralympics.
And they certainly won’t be loud, at least among the competitors.
But Vancouver and Whistler will have another go at an Olympic-style event in February 2015, the Deaflympic Winter Games.
Once called The Silent Games, the Deaflympics have been around since 1924, when the first summer games were held in Paris. The first winter games were in Seefeld, Austria in 1949.
Sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee, which owns the rights to the name “Olympics”, the Deaflympics have become a quadrennial competition for the world’s hearing impaired.
For the 2015 Deaflympics, about 1,000 competitors and officials from up to 35 countries will come to Vancouver and Whistler to compete in five different sports: curling, hockey, snowboard, alpine skiing and cross-country skiing. There will also be two demonstration sports, which have not yet been selected. The events will be held at Whistler Olympic Park, Whistler Creekside and at two rinks in Vancouver.
All of the sports use highly visual cues such as strobe lights to communicate with the athletes.
And in all cases, the competitors won’t be allowed to use any kind of hearing aid or cochlear implant. All have to submit to an audiogram to verify deafness.
Not only that, but audible applause is discouraged in favour of the waving of hands, the universal sign for cheering.
“We always look for the visual impact, waving as a sign of cheering,” said Darryl (DJ) Lampitt, the organizer of the Vancouver Games.
Lampitt’s parents, Julie Lampitt and Elmer Perry, are both deaf. As a hearing child of deaf adults, he says he’s grown up in “the best of both worlds, parallel worlds”. Lampitt, a former competitive ice dancer, said he wanted to repay to Canada’s deaf community his experience with his parents and decided to try and organize a Deaflympics in Canada. Canada held the Winter Deaflympics once before, in Banff, Alberta in 1991.
Last July Lampitt convinced the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf to give Vancouver the 2015 winter games, scheduled for Feb. 6-14. He came armed with several provincial, federal and civic government agreements-in-principle and the support of the Canadian Deaf Sports Federation.
Lampitt expects the Games will cost about $14 million, with half of that coming from government support and the other half from sponsorships and ticket revenues. He said he’s received some advice from the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the Olympics and Paralympics.
“We expect to use many of the legacy facilities from the (Paralympic) Games,” he said.
The Canadian Association for the Deaf estimates that there are about 310,000 culturally (or profoundly) deaf people in Canada, and another 2.8 million who are hard of hearing.
They won’t be as big as the Olympics, or even the Paralympics.
And they certainly won’t be loud, at least among the competitors.
But Vancouver and Whistler will have another go at an Olympic-style event in February 2015, the Deaflympic Winter Games.
Once called The Silent Games, the Deaflympics have been around since 1924, when the first summer games were held in Paris. The first winter games were in Seefeld, Austria in 1949.
Sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee, which owns the rights to the name “Olympics”, the Deaflympics have become a quadrennial competition for the world’s hearing impaired.
For the 2015 Deaflympics, about 1,000 competitors and officials from up to 35 countries will come to Vancouver and Whistler to compete in five different sports: curling, hockey, snowboard, alpine skiing and cross-country skiing. There will also be two demonstration sports, which have not yet been selected. The events will be held at Whistler Olympic Park, Whistler Creekside and at two rinks in Vancouver.
All of the sports use highly visual cues such as strobe lights to communicate with the athletes.
And in all cases, the competitors won’t be allowed to use any kind of hearing aid or cochlear implant. All have to submit to an audiogram to verify deafness.
Not only that, but audible applause is discouraged in favour of the waving of hands, the universal sign for cheering.
“We always look for the visual impact, waving as a sign of cheering,” said Darryl (DJ) Lampitt, the organizer of the Vancouver Games.
Lampitt’s parents, Julie Lampitt and Elmer Perry, are both deaf. As a hearing child of deaf adults, he says he’s grown up in “the best of both worlds, parallel worlds”. Lampitt, a former competitive ice dancer, said he wanted to repay to Canada’s deaf community his experience with his parents and decided to try and organize a Deaflympics in Canada. Canada held the Winter Deaflympics once before, in Banff, Alberta in 1991.
Last July Lampitt convinced the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf to give Vancouver the 2015 winter games, scheduled for Feb. 6-14. He came armed with several provincial, federal and civic government agreements-in-principle and the support of the Canadian Deaf Sports Federation.
Lampitt expects the Games will cost about $14 million, with half of that coming from government support and the other half from sponsorships and ticket revenues. He said he’s received some advice from the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the Olympics and Paralympics.
“We expect to use many of the legacy facilities from the (Paralympic) Games,” he said.
The Canadian Association for the Deaf estimates that there are about 310,000 culturally (or profoundly) deaf people in Canada, and another 2.8 million who are hard of hearing.