How Many Athletes And Nations Will Show Up At 2005 Deaflympics?

From: DeafSportlawsuit.com - Dec 15, 2004

PRESS RELEASE

HOW MANY ATHLETES AND NATIONS WILL SHOW UP AT 2005 DEAFLYMPICS?

Since December 1, 2004 ( the deadline date for the Final Entry Registration submissions for teams and athletes for next month's 20th Deaflympic Summer Games competitions ) and to this day, December 15, 2004, many readers have continually been inquiring our website - www.deafsportlawsuit.com - about the names of nations and number of athletes that intend to participate at the 2005 Games in Melbourne, Australia.

It is my belief that the Organizing Committee of the 2005 Games led by its able Chief Executive Officer, Miss Patricia Tracey, will stage a superb, well-organized and world-class sporting event in Melbourne next month.

However, because the CISS administration is again mishandling another important item, it can not, unlike the 2005 Games organizers, receive such positive accolades and praise from me!

Namely, to this minute and regretfully, the medievally-administered organization of the CISS led by its unconstitutionally-elected leader and autocrat, Donalda Ammons, has been very reluctant to publicly disclose to the world the still much-awaited information, that is, the exact number of athletes and nations that have already submitted their Final Entry Registrations for the 2005 Games competitions by the deadline date of December 1, 2004.

In spite of the above, through my rampant and friendly connections with many deaf sports leaders from various nations of the world, I was able to receive the following relevant information.

As of now, the following 24 countries are planning to send their athletes and officials to the 2005 Games:
USA – 215
Germany – 180
Russia - 170
Australia – 152
Ukraine – 138
Great Britain – 101
Italy – 97 ( this figure includes athletes only )
Greece – 86
Sweden – 62
New Zealand – 60
Netherlands – 51
Lithuania – 47
Norway – 39
Bulgaria – 37
South Africa – 34
Croatia – 32
Ireland – 29 ( this figure includes athletes only )
Belgium – 20
Canada – 15 ( this figure includes athletes only )
Israel – 13
Slovakia -12
Latvia – 11
Portugal – 11
Spain – 5.

More countries such as France, Denmark, Hungary, India, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Malta, Fiji, Japan, Malaysia, China, Chinese Taipei, Argentina, Venezuela and others are expected to send their delegations to the 2005 Games.

It is possible that these following countries will send their small-sized delegations to the Games ( some of them may also cancel their participation at the Games due to the lack of finances ): Poland, Romania, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Iceland, Bahrain, Kenya, Senegal, Serbia, Egypt, Cameroon, Nigeria and others.

The following countries will not, according to independent sources, send any of its athlete to the Games: Algiers, Azerbaijan, Chile, Georgia, Indonesia, Macedonia, Mali, Moldova, Peru, Philippines, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tunis, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Zambia, Zimbabwe and others.

Under a huge question mark is the participation of the impressive 215-member delegation from the USA because its organization – USADSF – has lately been in blatant breach of many certain rules in the CISS legal system. For details, click

http://www.deaftoday.com/v3/archives/2004/12/a_very_painful.html

Under question marks are also the participation of delegations from Israel and Portugal, which recently withdrew their teams – women's football and men' basketball- from the Games' competitions. In order for these two countries to be allowed to participate in the individual events at the Games in Melbourne, according to the CISS rules, Portugal and Israel, each, must first pay the $5,000.00 penalty fine for their team's respective withdrawals to the CISS Treasury now.

Although I am a lifelong and staunch proponent for the greater participation and larger presence of the deaf athletes at the Games and because of continued secrecy and adamant reluctance by Ammons to publicly release the relevant and updated data about the number of athletes and nations entered for the Games, it is my strong feeling that the many statements made by certain officials in the CISS and USADSF will not materialize at all.

Let me cite, for example, on a random basis, the three widely-published and eye-catching statements made to the world:

1) on October 31, 2002, at a media event in Melbourne and in the presence of the CISS President, it was announced that "more than 4,500 deaf athletes from 90 countries are expected to compete" at the 2005 Games;

2) on May 14, 2004, a top USADSF official told the newspaper reporter that the "Deaflympics involves some 3,500 athletes from 125 countries," and

3) Ammons' own mouthpiece – the www.deaflympics.com/games e-News Magazine – still reports that the "Deaflympic Games are among the world's fastest growing sports events. About 3,000 deaf athletes from about 80 nations are slated to participate in the Summer Games in Melbourne."

Are these various statistical figures – number of athletes and nations – real ones or are they substantially inflated or exaggerated ones? Are these statistics the irresponsible propaganda tactics sophisticatedly and shrewdly utilized by certain CISS ( including USADSF ) officials in order to get increased money/funding from different governmental (such as the government of Australia ), sports ( such as the IOC ) and corporate organizations?

Or, is it a misleading publicity ploy to attract more spectators to pay for tickets in order to attend the Games' events?

Or, is it the way to trick and exploit the Games organizers by getting more funds so this way certain CISS leaders and their spouses and partners will luxuriously be housed during the entire Games days at the fashionable, five-star hotel in Melbourne, whose expenses are fully paid for by the Games Organizing Committee, pursuant to the CISS By-Laws Rule 3.2.i ?

In the acts of patriotism, solidarity and progress for our deaf sports world, have certain CISS leaders ever unselfishly thought of this idea: try to abandon living and eating in the expensive hotels and restaurants, save money and, instead, these money use by paying for and ensuring the participation of the deserving and world-class deaf athletes coming, let's say, from the poor countries of Africa or Latin America, whose governments or National Olympic Committees have no funds to send their elite athletes to our deaf Games, have not they?

Additionally, let me be blunt and straightforward: because of mismanagement, incompetence, autocracy, lack of business acumen and personal ambitions by certain top USA-born CISS leaders – past and present – the 80 year-old organization of the CISS, very sadly, is still the world's most financially impoverished international sports organization among the disabled people.

Back to the issue of number of athletes and nations registered for the Games.

The last Summer Games held in 2001 in Italy, according to a reliable source, had approximately 1,700 deaf athletes from 70 countries in attendance – the largest ever attendance record in the Games' history. The last Summer Games held in the region of Oceania in 1989 – in Christchurch, New Zealand – attracted just 959 athletes from 30 countries ( Australia is also part of the region of Oceania ).

Another vivid and sad fact was that in the past ( again, because of the inept CISS leadership and its strategically-poor public relations work ) most sporting facilities of the previous Games held in different cities of the world always had many empty-seated venues - stadiums and arenas, in which deaf athletes and teams vied for the medal honors in different sports of the Deaflympic Games competitions.

In spite of all the above facts, let's wait and see till January 5, 2005, that is, we will find out exactly how many athletes and nations will actually show up on that day's widely-anticipated and eagerly-watched 20th Deaflympic Summer Games Opening Ceremony's Parade of Nations.

Sportingly Yours,

Rafael Pinkhasov Pinchas

www.deafsportlawsuit.com

P.S. It is hoped that after reading this material the now-illegitimately-nominated candidate for the 2005 CISS/Deaflympics Presidency Ammons - in the interests of openness, free and immediate information release and CISS Motto "Equal Through Sports" – will be compelled to fully and immediately release the updated information related to the December 1, 2004 Final Entry Registration submissions to the always-hungry media and public world via either www.deaflympics.com or www.2005deaflympics.com.