At the 1987 ICSD Congress in Oslo, three cities submitted their applications to host the 17th Deaflympics: Copenhagen (Denmark), Barcelona (Spain) and Sofia (Bulgaria). Sofia won the vote this time with 45 votes against 11 for Denmark and 4 for Spain....
For the very first time since their membership in 1975, South Africa could effectively compete in these Games.
1. 705 athletes from as many as 51 countries (Belgium, France, Netherlands, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Czech Republic, Slovakia, West Germany, Algeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Turkey, Israel, Iran, Kuwait, Russia, Ukraine, Japan, Korea, China, Malaysia, India, Hong Kong, Brazil, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Cuba, Canada and the USA) participated in these Games with sports such as athletics, badminton, basketball, handball, swimming, water polo, football, volleyball, cycling, shooting, table tennis, tennis and wrestling.
Notable facts were:
- for the first time since Cologne 1981 the record number of participants was broken again, 1,705 athletes from 51 countries participated;
- Soviet Union ceased to exist, allowing 7 new countries to participate: Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia & Ukraine;
- In addition to these new countries, countries such as Brazil, Taiwan,
In the medal standings, we saw : the USA finished in 1st place with 83 medals (35 gold, 25 silver and 23 bronze), while Russia took 2nd place with 43 medals (16 gold, 10 silver and 18 bronze).
Belgium, with 40 athletes (37 men & 3 women), barely got 2 bronze medals.
Athletics
- Marc Boen (°1957) :
- 1,500 m : eliminated in semi-final (14th place with 4:27.87)
- 5,000 m : abandoned in semi-final.
- Xavier Piette (°1973) :
- 800 m : 1st round (3rd place with 2:01.64) & semi-final : abandoned.
- 1,500 m : eliminated in semi-final (6th place with 4:22.16).
Table tennis
- Kurt Van Dam (°1977) :
- single: eliminated in 1st round against Kestutis Taucius (Lithuania)
- double (with Christophe Mallieu): lost in 1st round against Kumza R/Lukosius J (Lithuania) 2-1.
- Christophe Maillieu (°1974) :
- single: eliminated in 1st round against Aditya Sharma (India)
- double (with Kurt Van Dam): lost in 1st round against Kumza R/Lukosius J (Lithuania) 2-1.
- Fabrice Dubuisson (°1966) :
- single: won in the 1st round against Man Tai Lee (Hong Kong) and then lost in the 2nd round against Graeme Stansfield (Great Britain),
- double (with Nicolas Rettmann): won in the preliminary round against Surmiak J/Szcezepinski R. (Poland) 2-0 and
then lost in the 1st round against Prasad K/Stahian K (India) 2-0.
- Nicolas Rettmann (°1973) :
- single: eliminated in the 1st round against Nicky Blom (Denmark)
- double (with Fabrice Dubuisson): won in the preliminary round against Surmiak J/Szcezepinski R. (Poland) 2-0 and
then lost in the 1st round against Prasad K/Stahian K (India) 2-0.
Tennis
- Tom Hessens (°1970) :
- single: lost in the 1st round against Jeff Ploederl (USA) 6-1 and 6-2.
- double (with Frederic Soeur): won in the preliminary round 4-6, 6-1 and 6-4 against the duo Hortenhuber L/Goldenfus J (Czech Republic) and lost in the 1st round against Boyd M/ Heunes G (South Africa) 7-5, 5-7 and 6-0.
- Frederic Soeur (°1974) :
- singles: lost in the 2nd round against Thorsten Vontheim (West Germany) 6-0 and 6-0.
- doubles (with Tom Hessens): won in the preliminary round 4-6, 6-1 and 6-4 against the duo Hortenhuber L/Goldenfus J (Czech Republic) and lost in the 1st round against Boyd M/ Heunes G (South Africa) 7-5, 5-7 and 6-0.
- Nathalie Watelet (°1963) :
- singles: lost in the preliminary round against Gabriele Hohman (West Germany) 6-2, 6-2.
Volleyball with 12th place (out of 12 teams)
Group stage (Group B) :
- Belgium vs the Netherlands = 1-3 (16-14, 12-15, 7-15 & 7-15)
- Belgium vs Bulgaria = 0-3 (5-15, 13-15 & 6-15)
- Belgium vs Finland = 0-3 (11-15, 13-15 & 4-15)
- Belgium vs Poland = 0-3 (4-15, 13-15 & 1-15)
- Belgium vs Japan = 0-3 (12-15, 10-15 & 13-15)
For 11th and 12th place: Belgium vs India = 0-3 (6-15, 6-15 & 5-15)
Players: Filip Bostijn (°1961), Nico Claerman ( °1961), Daniel Colombie (°1962), Olivier Ferin ( °1969), Luc Snellings (°1969), Jan Van den Braembussche (°1959), Kristof De Weerdt ( °1973), Filip Van Hede (°1964), Jan Vermaut( °1964) en Wim Zonnekein ( °1966).
Football with bronze medal
Qualified via group stage (eliminating Sweden & Switzerland): home Belgium vs Sweden 4-1 and (away) Switzerland vs Belgium = 1-7
Group stage (Group A) :
- Israel vs Belgium = 1-3 (goals by Marlière, Cockx & De Weghe).
- Belgium vs Great Britain = 1-0 (goal Peter Sutherland).
Semi-final : Belgium vs Greece = 2-3 (goals by Bekaert and Sutherland).
3rd and 4th places: Belgium vs France = 1-1 (goal by Lieven Kind) and then won 4-2 on penalties.
Players: Bekaert Rudy (°1962), De Becker Patrick (°1966), De Beir Guy (°1958), De Bels Hein (°1968), Cockx Alain (°1968), De Ryck Raf (°1966), Deweghe Nico (°1969), Kind Lieven (°1968), Magry Bart (°1975), Marlière Philippe (°1969), Mollet Pascal (°1967), Raeymakers Ferdinand (°1961), Rivez Michel (°1976), Soenen Martin (°1965), Sutherland Peter (°1972), Van De Velde Peter (°1968), Verstraete Filip (°1967) en Wauty Christophe (°1972).
Swimming
- Koen Adriaenssens (°1976) :
- 50m freestyle (in preliminary round 26th) with 27,65
- 100m freestyle (in preliminary round 22th) with 59,63
- 100m breaststroke (in preliminary round disqualified)
- 200m breaststroke (7th) with 2.39,93
- 100m butterfly (in preliminary round 10th) with 1.04,80
- 200m butterfly (5th) with 2.26,09
- 200m individual medley (in preliminary round 17th) met 2.28,39
- Elli Van Osselaer (°1979) :
- 100m backstroke (5th) with 1.16,28
- 200m backstroke (Bronze) with 2.41,54
100m breaststroke (in preliminary round 15th) with 1.31,04 - 200m breaststroke (in preliminary round 12th) with 3.15,11
- 100m butterfly (in preliminary round 13th) with 1.26,83
- 200m individual medley (in preliminary round 12th) with 2.52,91
- 400m individual medley (in preliminary round 9th) with 6.12,39
- Greet Vergult (°1978) :
- 50m freestyle (qualification rounds 10th) with 31,17
- 200m freestyle (7th) with 2.23,54
- 400m freestyle (7th) with 5.04,14
- 100m butterfly (6th) with 1.13,45
- 200 m butterfly (6th) with 2.51,32
- 200m individual medley (7th) with 2.45,33
- 400m individual medley (7th) with 5.57,38
Chef de Mission of the Belgian Delegation was Lucien De Bels assisted by the interpreter Gilbert Moens.
