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 7 | Aksana PETRUSHENKA won 6 |
Ilya TRISHKIN won 7 | Ganna LYTVYNENKO won 6 |
Luca GERMANO won 6 | Yue Yue HE won 6 |
Andriy ZURGALIDZE won 5 | Anna TOVSTA won 6 |
Volodymyr NATALCHUK won 5 | Ekaterina 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 | |||
Name | Country | Medals | Records |
PETRUSHENKA Aksana | BLR | 4 Gold 1 Silver 1 Bronze | 5 World 5 Games |
LYTVYNENKO Ganna | UKR | 3 Gold 2 Silver 1 Bronze | 4 World 5 Games |
HE Yue Yue | CHN | 3 Gold 2 Silver 1 Bronze | 3 World 3 Games |
TOVSTA Anna | UKR | 3 Gold 1 Silver 2 Bronze | 2 World 2 Games |
SAVCHENKO Ekaterina | RUS | 2 Gold 4 Silver | 2 World 2 Games |
DEEVA Natalia | BLR | 2 Gold 2 Silver | 2 World 2 Games |
POLIVANCHUK Anna | SWE | 2 Gold 1 Silver | 3 World 3 Games |
DE VILLIERS Peggy | RSA | 1 Gold 2 Silver 1 Bronze | 1 World 3 Games |
KILE Pernilla | SWE | 1 Gold | 1 World 1 Games |
Men | |||
PARKIN Terence | RSA | 7 Gold | 3 World 6 Games |
TRISHKIN Ilya | RUS | 4 Gold 3 Silver | 6 World 6 Games |
KASSIN Ivan | RUS | 4 Gold | 2 World 2 Games |
GERMANO Luca | ITA | 3 Gold 2 Silver 1 Bronze | 4 World 7 Games |
SARYKIN Ilya | RUS | 3 Gold | 3 World 4 Games |
KIM Geonoh | KOR | 1 Gold 1 Silver 1 Bronze | --- |
XU Jia Hui | CHN | 1 Gold 2 Bronze | 1 World 1 Games |
IBARA Ryutaro | JPN | 1 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 | |
Gold | Hungary |
Silver | Italy |
Bronze | Germany |
4th place | Ireland |
5th place | United 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