The International Committee of Sports for the Deaf is the apex body organizing international sports events for the deaf, particularly the

Deaflympics The Deaflympics, also known as Deaflympiad (previously called World Games for the Deaf, and International Games for the Deaf) are a periodic series of multi-sport events sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at which deaf athle ...

(previously called World Games for the Deaf). It is also called the Comité International des Sports des Sourds (CISS). The organization was founded in Paris by Eugène Rubens-Alcais, who organized the first "International Silent Games" in 1924. Alcais was himself deaf and was the president of the French Deaf Sports Federation. CISS, now also called ICSD, is headquartered in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

, Switzerland.

History

The early pioneers of the international deaf sports movement were Eugène Rubens-Alcais (France) and Antoine Dresse (Belgium). The first Summer Games were held in Paris in 1924, and started with 148 athletes from nine countries (France, Belgium, Great Britain, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia). The first Winter Games were instituted in 1949 at Seefeld, Austria. They attracted 33 athletes from five countries. In 1935, Japan joined CISS as the first Asian member and the United States as the first North American member. Australia and New Zealand joined later in 1955 as the first members from Oceania. The first African member was South Africa, in 1975. After the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, the CISS banned athletes from Russia and Belarus from that year's

Caxias do Sul Caxias do Sul () is a city in Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil, situated in the state's mountainous Serra Gaúcha region. It was established by Italian Brazilian, Italian immigrants on June 20, 1890. Today it is the second Largest cities in R ...

, Brazil.

Events

Deaflympics

The Deaflympics (previously called ''World Games for the Deaf'', and ''International Games for the Deaf'') are an

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

(IOC)-sanctioned event at which

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

athletes compete at an elite level.

Presidents

* 1924-1953: Eugène Rubens-Alcais * 1953-1955: Oscar Ryden * 1955-1961: Jens Peter Nielsen * 1961-1971: Pierre Bernhard * 1971-1995: Jerald M. Jordan * 1995-2003: John M. Lovett * 2003-2009: Donalda Ammons Kay * 2009-2013: Craig A. Crowley * 2013-2018: Valery Nikititch Rukhledev * 2019-2020: Flag of Chinese Taipei for Deaf

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One China principle stipulated by the ...

Kang Chen Kang may refer to: Places * Kang Kalan, Punjab * Kang District, Afghanistan * Kang, Botswana, a village * Kang County, Gansu, China * Kang, Isfahan, Iran, a village * Kang, Kerman, Iran, a village * Kang, Razavi Khorasan, Iran, a village * Kh ...

* 2021-2022:

Gustavo de Araújo Perazzolo Gustavo is the Latinate form of a Germanic male given name with respective prevalence in Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian. It is derived from Gustav /ˈɡʊstɑːv/, also spelled Gustaf, a Swedish name, likely from Slavic Gostislav. People wit ...

* 2022-present: Ádám Kósa

References

External links