Belgium is one of the founding members for both EDSO (European Deaf Sports Organisation) and ICSD (International Committee of Sports for the Deaf, formerly also called CISS) and was represented by BDC president Jan Van den Braembussche and director of Topsport Lieven Kind at both congresses.
The EDSO congress took place the first 2 days, which ended with a closing banquet at the hotel. The next day began the ICSD congress, which concluded after 2 days with a modest closing banquet at the Atrium hotel.
On the closing day Saturday, 5 October, the tribute day was organised to mark ICSD's 100th anniversary, with a tour in and around Paris.
Visits were made to:
- Pershing athletics stadium, where the very first Silent Games were held in 1924. This was made possible partly thanks to founder Eugène Rubens-Alcais from France & secretary Antoine Dresse from Liège (Belgium).
- the army barracks where all athletes & officials could stay overnight during the Silent Games.
- the cemetery of the founder Eugène Rubens-Alcais (°7/05/1864 - + 8/03/1963) in Ivry cemetery, near Paris.
- the exhibition around the very first Silent Games in 1924, which took place in the oldest deaf school in the world, INJS (Institut & école pour les jeunes sourds) founded in 1760!
It was an honourable and enjoyable day, in which sports history was so clearly highlighted... truly an honour for our country to be present at this!
A total of 29 countries were present at this biennial congress, represented by 42 delegation members.
Countries such as : Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzogovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.
We can remember the following from this Congress:
- France was again accepted as a member of EDSO (new commission instead of federation)
- the report of the Congress in Mechelen (2022) was approved
- two interim governors Iveta Kraze (Latvia) & Burcu Piskin (Turkey) were finally accepted, after being provisionally accepted by the governing body outside Congress in 2023
- the resignation of Antonio De la Rose del Pino (Spain) was accepted, no replacement is foreseen. This can only be done at the next congress.
- the annual report and financial report for the years 2022 and 2023
- some proposals had been discussed and accepted at Congress, Belgium submitted 3 proposals:
- website www.edso.eu needs a thorough update. Belgium proposed to design an online management system through this updated website, via a public call to candidates from all over Europe. This proposal was approved by a large majority!
- Petanque: it was proposed to accept this sport within EDSO. This was approved by a large majority.
- representation of EDSO board members at European Championships: it would no longer be possible for an EDSO board member to be appointed to organisations of European Championships of the same nationality.
- the very first European Deaf Youth Games will take place in Hannover, Germany, in August 2026!
- candidate organisers are being sought to host the first ever European Deaf Games.
- the calendar for the coming years was discussed.
- in 2025 an exceptional EDSO congress will be organised, perhaps in Sarajevo (Bosnia & Herzogovina)
- in 2026, the next EDSO congress will take place in Rotterdam (the Netherlands), as they plan to celebrate their 100th anniversary then.
This congress was then concluded with a banquet & reception and closing banquet, celebrating EDSO's 40th anniversary.
Our Belgian Boudewyn De Roose was one of the founders of EDSO in Antibes - France (1983), together with the Netherlands, France, Germany, ...
BDC attended the ICSD congress in Paris, France, which also celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first global Pacific Games.
The congress was officially opened in the presence of Ms Marie-Amelie Le Fur, who is the president of the French Paralympic Committee. In France, the Deaf Sports Federation is back affiliated to the Paralympic Committee in a different capacity, but with a new board where 6 deaf board members have been appointed and, in addition, 4 hearing members.
A total of 54 countries were present + 2 associated members (DIFA-DIBF). At the start of the congress, Belgium was honoured with a nice tribute as one of the founding members of the ICSD, together with the Netherlands, France, Great Britain, Italy,, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Romania.
A total of five new members were added:
- Chad
- Indonesia
- France (the old federation was dissolved and replaced by a new committee)
- Lebanon
- Morocco
At the start of the congress, Russia asked for one additional agenda item to be added: the proposal to give Russian athletes back the opportunity to participate in the Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics. This agenda item was refused by a large majority and thus not discussed.
It was also announced that Mr Rafael Pinkhasov will be sued by the ICSD for defamation, due to his repeated negative reporting, which lead to nothing.... Since 2007 he is persona-non-grata for the ICSD.
This was followed by some presentations by Adam Kosa (ICSD president) and by the athletes' committee, ethics committee, women in sport committee, anti-doping committee, audiogram committee, signing MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) with associate members (DIFA - football, DIBF - basketball and WDGF - Golf).
It was a great opportunity to network and get information on issues and future events, including the 2025 Deaflympics.
On the 2nd day of the ICSD Congress, important decisions for the future and the Games were explained.
- Japan's Deaflympics Organising Committee gave an update on the November 2025 Games;
- Austria (Innsbruck & Seefeld) will host the next Winter Deaflympics on 15-24 January 2027, this marks a return to the very first Winter Games in Seefeld 1949;
- The possible relocation of the ICSD headquarters from Lausanne is yet to be worked out, the current candidatures of Zagreb (Croatia) & Budapest (Hungary) have not yet been retained. This will have to be discussed in detail at a future congress;
- There were also some elections (remarkably many women were candidates, which we can only applaud!):
- for the board the choice fell on Chinese Ms Zang.
- for the ethics committee, the choice fell on American Tiffany Williams.
- The Rubens-Alcais Award went to Turkey, for its exceptional commitment to organising the Winter Games in Erzurum 2024 in a very short preparation time!
Also noteworthy was the fact that Slovakia was barred from the congress on the 2nd day, for not respecting ICSD's regulations. This will be followed up further by ICSD's Ethics Committee.
