Games Facts

• The 21st Summer Deaflympics hosted in Taipei, Chinese Taipei in September 2009, included over 4,000 athletes and officials from 77 countries.
• The 22th Summer Deaflympics to be held at Athens, Greece in 2013.
• The 16th Winter Deaflympics hosted in Salt Lake City, United States in 2007, included over 600 athletes and officials from 23 countries.
• The 17th Winter Deaflympics to be held at Vysoké Tatry, Slovakia in 2011.
• The 18th Winter Deaflympics to be held at Vancouver, Canada in 2015.
• Summer Games were first held in Paris in 1924. They were the first games ever, for a group of people with a disability.
• Le Comité International des Sports Silencieux, CISS (The International Committee of Silent Sports), later renamed Le Comité International des Sports des Sourds (The International Committee of Sports for the Deaf) was formed to hold the games every four years. With a couple of exceptions, including a break during World War II, the games have been held every four years ever since.
• The games were known as International Silent Games before they became the World Games for the Deaf. The most recent name, the Deaflympics, was formally adopted in 2001.
• CISS was admitted into the International Olympic Committee, IOC, as an International Federation with Olympic standing in 1955. The flag of the IOC has flown next to those of the CISS at the Summer/Winter Deaflympics since 1985.
• 9 countries sent 148 athletes to the initial games in 1924. In the 21st Summer Deaflympics in 2009 in Taipei, Chinese Taipei, 2,493 athletes from 77 nations participated.
• Winter Games were instituted after World War II. The first games in Seefeld, Austria, attracted 34 athletes from 5 countries. The 16th Winter Deaflympics in Salt Lake City, United States, in 2007 included 298 athletes from 23 countries.