Games Facts

  • The latest Summer Deaflympics held in Sofia, Bulgaria had an increase of more than 200 athletes and six (6) added nations from the previous Deaflympics in Taipei, Taiwan.
  • Summer Games were first held in Paris in 1924. They were the first games ever, for a group of people with a disability and is second to Olympics in having an organized sporting event for international competition.
  • The CISS which stood for "Le Comité International des Sports Silencieux" (The International Committee of Silent Sports) was formed in 1924 to hold the games every four years.  The CISS was recently renamed "Le Comité International des Sports des Sourds" (The International Committee of Sports for the Deaf), the present day ICSD.
  • The games were originally 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.
  • In 1955, the CISS was admitted into the International Olympic Committee, the IOC, as an International Federation with Olympic standing. The flag of the IOC has flown next to the flag representing CISS/ICSD at the Summer/Winter Deaflympics since 1985.
  • Athletic participation in the Deaflympics has continually grown over the years.   In 1924, the initial games started with 148 athletes from 9 countries. In 2013,  2,711 athletes from 83 nations participated in the latest one, the 22nd Summer Deaflympics.
  • Winter Games were instituted in 1949 at Seefeld, Austria.  It attracted 33 athletes from 5 countries.  The 18th Winter Deaflympics in Khanty-Mansiysk / Magnitogorsk, the Russian Federation, in 2015 included 336 athletes from 27 countries.