Swimming & Water Polo

It was nice to see and meet many of you at the Hsinchu County Swimming Plaza last September in Taipei. The Swimming and Water Polo venues and competitions were very good. Appreciation and recognition goes to TOC Members, CTSA and FINA Officials, and many volunteers for their time, cooperation, and successful work. Thank you.

Swimming
It was amazing large and fast swim meet. 168 swimmers from 40 countries participated. Swimmers broke 48 Games Records and 36 World Records. With the fast pool and fast swimsuits, men broke 15 out of 19 and women 17 out of 19 Games Records. Swimming competition was fierce. A group of 11 swimmers, 5 men and 6 women, dominated the pool by winning 66 medals.

Terence PARKIN won 7Aksana PETRUSHENKA won 6
Ilya TRISHKIN won 7Ganna LYTVYNENKO won 6
Luca GERMANO won 6Yue Yue HE won 6
Andriy ZURGALIDZE won 5Anna TOVSTA won 6
Volodymyr NATALCHUK won 5Ekaterina SAVCHENKO won 6
 Valeria STYNIKOVA won 6

The 6 relay events, 3 men and 3 women, were extremely fast and exciting. All relays shattered world records. Russian Federation men swept all 3 relays and records. Belarus, Russian Federation, and Ukraine women split the 3 relays and records. Below are names of individual swimming Champions. Congratulations to all swimmers.

2009 Summer Deaflympics Swimming Individual Gold Medal Winners

Women

NameCountryMedalsRecords
PETRUSHENKA AksanaBLR4 Gold
1 Silver
1 Bronze
5 World
5 Games
LYTVYNENKO GannaUKR3 Gold
2 Silver
1 Bronze
4 World
5 Games
HE Yue YueCHN3 Gold
2 Silver
1 Bronze
3 World
3 Games
TOVSTA AnnaUKR3 Gold
1 Silver
2 Bronze
2 World
2 Games
SAVCHENKO EkaterinaRUS2 Gold
4 Silver
2 World
2 Games
DEEVA NataliaBLR2 Gold
2 Silver
2 World
2 Games
POLIVANCHUK AnnaSWE2 Gold
1 Silver
3 World
3 Games
DE VILLIERS PeggyRSA1 Gold
2 Silver
1 Bronze
1 World
3 Games
KILE PernillaSWE1 Gold1 World
1 Games

Men

PARKIN TerenceRSA7 Gold3 World
6 Games
TRISHKIN IlyaRUS4 Gold
3 Silver
6 World
6 Games
KASSIN IvanRUS4 Gold2 World
2 Games
GERMANO LucaITA3 Gold
2 Silver
1 Bronze
4 World
7 Games
SARYKIN IlyaRUS3 Gold3 World
4 Games
KIM GeonohKOR1 Gold
1 Silver
1 Bronze
---
XU Jia HuiCHN1 Gold
2 Bronze
1 World
1 Games
IBARA RyutaroJPN1 Gold---

At Technical Meetings in Taipei, members agreed to minor modifications in future Swimming regulations and qualifying times. There was a strong interest for a short course 25m world swim meet in 2012. Please consider hosting this event. You may contact me to start procedures or ask questions.

Swimming continues to grow, become stronger and faster. Germany will host 2010 European Deaf Swimming Championships. Portugal will host 2011 World Deaf Swimming Championships. Train and plan well. Set and reach high goals.

Water Polo
Water Polo competition was strong and physical among the top four teams. Since 1985 Deaflympics, Water Polo has seen a new Champion every four years. Gold medal Hungary drained the pool by winning all six games by a margin of 58 goals. Welcome Ireland who participated for the first time and played well. Congratulations all players.

2009 Summer Deaflympics Water Polo
Final Results

GoldHungary
SilverItaly
BronzeGermany
4th placeIreland
5th placeUnited States

ICSD Executive Committee has removed Water Polo from 2013 Athens Summer Deaflympics. To reinstate Water Polo, one must host World Championships and increase the number of teams. Refer to Deaflympics - Regulations DG8. Players, teams, coaches, officials, and sport federations --- please continue Water Polo for current and future deaf athletes.

Ireland will host 2010 European Deaf Water Polo Championships. Along with Germany, Hungary, Ireland, and Italy --- Denmark, Netherlands, and Russian Federation have entered. It will be a good tournament with 7 teams, more teams than past EDSO Water Polo Championships. Have fun, train well, and good luck.

Please consider hosting World Championships to keep Water Polo internationally and reinstate the sport to Summer Deaflympics.

Aquatically yours,

Reed GERSHWIND
ICSD Technical Director - Swimming & Water Polo

By Reed Gershwind