22nd Deaflympics, Sofia, Bulgaria
Head Coach’s Report
The standard of Deaf swimming was on par with the last Deaflympics in 2009, with the exception of all the female Breaststroke events and all the male backstroke events. At the 2009 Deaflympics, we saw full body shiny costumes, which have now been banned by FINA. A total of 202 swimmers from 42 countries participated in the 22nd Deaflympics. The Eastern European block countries dominated winning the medals, with Russia coming 1st on the medal table, gaining 39 medals. They receive a finance bonus from their own government, when they win any colour of medals.
The competition took place at SPARTAK pool which was the 2nd time it hosted the Deaflympic, the last time was in 1993. I guess it hasn’t improved the environment since then, where there were many health hazard issues and it was dirty. The starting blocks were out of date and unstable! However, that didn’t stop any swimmers competing; the feedback from some GB swimmers saying the pool was ok. I felt the outcome of the presentation of the competition wasn’t up to standard, compared to last two Deaflympics, where they were strict checks on ID and less people walking around the poolside.
Our GB team consisted of 5 of each gender, with ages ranging from 15 to 20. It’s a “young team”, being 1st Deaflympic for 7 of them, though 8 of them had experiences in recent World Deaf Championship and European Deaf Championship.
I am disappointment that there’s no medal achieved, and also this is the worse ever result since 1977. In the last 11 months, losing 3 elite GB swimmers made a difference to the strength of the team. Maybe if they received better financial support their decision may have been different. This also applies to current Deaflympicans who had the burden of raising money for Sofia.
However, GB swimmers made 23 finalists out of 69 events entries, which it’s better than last Deaflympic 2009, where we had 6 finalists.
Jack McComish: 4th – 400 I/M and 400m FC
6th – 200m Breast
7th 1500m FC
8th – 100m Breast (50m BST –DQ)
Lucy Walkup: 6th – 100m Breast
7th – 200m Breast
Danielle Joyce: 5th - 400m FC, 50m and 100m Back
6th - 50m and 200m FC, 200m Back
8th – 100m FC
Emily Noden 8th – 800 FC and 200 I/M
GB team made it into all 6 relay finals. Closest to the medal position were Alexander Cranford, Tom Baxter, Luke Nisted and Jack McComish in the 4 x 200m FC where they came 4th, just 1.54 seconds, behind bronze medallist China. Credit to Oliver Kenny (16) who swam well in the morning heat, in order for Jack to conserved energy for his own 2 individual finals on the same day.
Many records were broken during the championships:
6 British records were broken as follows:
Danielle - 100m Freestyle, 50m 100m and 200m Backstrokes
Female team of Danielle, Emily, Annabel Towns and Lucy broke 4 x 100 FC and 4 x 200m FC
There were also 15 Scottish Deaf records broken by 3 Scottish swimmers (Danielle, Jack, and Lucy) whilst Welsh swimmer, Emily, broke Welsh Deaf records 8 times.
A total of 46 personal best times were recorded, with 6 of them improved from morning heats. The youngest GB’s swimmers Renee Stewart (15) put in a good effort with 3PBs out of 4 events, as this is her first major Deaf Competition, along with Danielle.
Team Manager, Andrew Robert did a good job organising things and dealt with several difficult issues. However, it had been a frustrating time for us, due to communication difficulties. Some of the GB swimmers expressed having difficulty too.
I would like to express my thanks to UKDS officers, especially to Gordon Hay and Donna for all their hard work and support during the Games, and dealing with the difficult situation around kits. I would also like to thank to Chief de Mission, Fiona Brooks, for her amazing attitude and tremendous support, toward the whole GB Team getting us together by making us to sit with other sports team members, during the evening meal, where most of them made many new friends and encouraging us to support team members in other sports.
Lastly thanks to all the swimmer’s home coaches for putting them through their paces every week.
Angela Holmes
August 2013
Head Coach’s Report
The standard of Deaf swimming was on par with the last Deaflympics in 2009, with the exception of all the female Breaststroke events and all the male backstroke events. At the 2009 Deaflympics, we saw full body shiny costumes, which have now been banned by FINA. A total of 202 swimmers from 42 countries participated in the 22nd Deaflympics. The Eastern European block countries dominated winning the medals, with Russia coming 1st on the medal table, gaining 39 medals. They receive a finance bonus from their own government, when they win any colour of medals.
The competition took place at SPARTAK pool which was the 2nd time it hosted the Deaflympic, the last time was in 1993. I guess it hasn’t improved the environment since then, where there were many health hazard issues and it was dirty. The starting blocks were out of date and unstable! However, that didn’t stop any swimmers competing; the feedback from some GB swimmers saying the pool was ok. I felt the outcome of the presentation of the competition wasn’t up to standard, compared to last two Deaflympics, where they were strict checks on ID and less people walking around the poolside.
Our GB team consisted of 5 of each gender, with ages ranging from 15 to 20. It’s a “young team”, being 1st Deaflympic for 7 of them, though 8 of them had experiences in recent World Deaf Championship and European Deaf Championship.
I am disappointment that there’s no medal achieved, and also this is the worse ever result since 1977. In the last 11 months, losing 3 elite GB swimmers made a difference to the strength of the team. Maybe if they received better financial support their decision may have been different. This also applies to current Deaflympicans who had the burden of raising money for Sofia.
However, GB swimmers made 23 finalists out of 69 events entries, which it’s better than last Deaflympic 2009, where we had 6 finalists.
Jack McComish: 4th – 400 I/M and 400m FC
6th – 200m Breast
7th 1500m FC
8th – 100m Breast (50m BST –DQ)
Lucy Walkup: 6th – 100m Breast
7th – 200m Breast
Danielle Joyce: 5th - 400m FC, 50m and 100m Back
6th - 50m and 200m FC, 200m Back
8th – 100m FC
Emily Noden 8th – 800 FC and 200 I/M
GB team made it into all 6 relay finals. Closest to the medal position were Alexander Cranford, Tom Baxter, Luke Nisted and Jack McComish in the 4 x 200m FC where they came 4th, just 1.54 seconds, behind bronze medallist China. Credit to Oliver Kenny (16) who swam well in the morning heat, in order for Jack to conserved energy for his own 2 individual finals on the same day.
Many records were broken during the championships:
6 British records were broken as follows:
Danielle - 100m Freestyle, 50m 100m and 200m Backstrokes
Female team of Danielle, Emily, Annabel Towns and Lucy broke 4 x 100 FC and 4 x 200m FC
There were also 15 Scottish Deaf records broken by 3 Scottish swimmers (Danielle, Jack, and Lucy) whilst Welsh swimmer, Emily, broke Welsh Deaf records 8 times.
A total of 46 personal best times were recorded, with 6 of them improved from morning heats. The youngest GB’s swimmers Renee Stewart (15) put in a good effort with 3PBs out of 4 events, as this is her first major Deaf Competition, along with Danielle.
Team Manager, Andrew Robert did a good job organising things and dealt with several difficult issues. However, it had been a frustrating time for us, due to communication difficulties. Some of the GB swimmers expressed having difficulty too.
I would like to express my thanks to UKDS officers, especially to Gordon Hay and Donna for all their hard work and support during the Games, and dealing with the difficult situation around kits. I would also like to thank to Chief de Mission, Fiona Brooks, for her amazing attitude and tremendous support, toward the whole GB Team getting us together by making us to sit with other sports team members, during the evening meal, where most of them made many new friends and encouraging us to support team members in other sports.
Lastly thanks to all the swimmer’s home coaches for putting them through their paces every week.
Angela Holmes
August 2013