19e Deaflympics in Rome 2001

2. 208 athletes from no fewer than 67 countries (Belgium, France, Netherlands, Great Britain, Cyprus, Malta, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Yugoslavia, FYROM, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Armenia, Germany, Algeria, Kenya, South Africa, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia, Russia, Ukraine, China, Japan, Korea, China, India, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Mongolia, Mexico, Venezuela, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Cuba, Canada and the USA) participated in these Games with sports including athletics, badminton, basketball, bowling, handball, orienteering, swimming, water polo, football, volleyball, cycling, shooting, table tennis, tennis and wrestling.

Notable facts were:

on 16 May 2001, the name of the "Summer Games" was changed to its current name : the Deaflympics!
at the 34th CISS Congress in 1995, the organisation of these Games was assigned to Rome, the opposing candidate was Sheffield (GBR).
the following countries competed in these Games for the first time: Macau, Malta, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Tukrmenistan and Uruguay;
this organisation did not leave a good impression with both participants and spectators afterwards because of its chaotic organisation. There was even a new naming

In the medal standings, we saw : the USA finished in 1st place with 71medals (25 gold, 22 silver and 24 bronze), while Russian Federation took 2nd place with 49 medals (13 gold, 18 silver and 18 bronze) and Germany third with 47 medals (13 gold, 21 silver and 13 bronze).

Belgium won 3 bronze medals with 25 athletes (23 men & 2 women).

Athletics

Gilles Naniwe (°1973):
- 800m: Qualified for the semi-finals with a time of 2:06:02 and
  eliminated in the semi-finals (9th place) with a time of 2:05:79 (winner Pavel Oukhanov (RUS) with a time of 1:53:96).
- 1500m: Race abandoned in the semi-finals.
Greet Vergult (°1978):
- 5000m: Race abandoned in the final.
- 10000m: 6th place (out of 12 participants) with 39:38:46 (Joanne Lambert (AUS) won the gold medal with a new world record of 37:26:42).

Bowling (total of 127 participants)

Paul Simons (°1964):
- Singles (1,224 points - 13th place) - Doubles with Verhasselt (1,192 points - 20th place) - Trio (1,221 points - 19th place) - Team (1,217 points - 14th place)
  Total All Events: 4,854 points - 9th place.
- Round Robin: Eliminated with a 16th place finish in 15 games (2,823 points).
Roland Verhasselt (°1938):
- Singles (1,182 points - 17th place) - Doubles with Simons (1,049 points - 20th place) - Trio (1,027 points - 19th place) - Team (1,008 points - 14th place)
  Total All Events: 4,266 points - 68th place.
Peter Van de Velde (°1968):
- Singles (1,050 points - 77th place) - Doubles with Kint (1,055 points - 46th place) - Trio (1,025 points - 19th place) - Team (1,102 points - 14th place)
  Total All Events: 4,232 points - 72nd place.
Andy Van Hoorebeke (°1972):
- Singles (994 points - 93rd place) - Doubles with Buffel (1,076 points - 43rd place) - Team (943 points - 14th place)
  Total All Events: 4,077 points - 88th place.
Luc Buffel (°1964):
- Singles (961 points - 105th place) - Doubles with Van Hoorebeke (964 points - 43rd place) - Team (945 points - 14th place)
  Total All Events: 3,692 points - 107th place.
Paul Kint (°1956)
- Singles (1,082 points - 62nd place) - Doubles with Van de Velde (962 points - 46th place)
  Total All Events: 2,044 points (12 games) - 125th place.

Singles competition with 127 bowlers.
Doubles competition with 59 teams.
Trio competitions with 35 teams.
Team competition with 19 teams.
Total events with 127 bowlers (24 games).

Table tennis

Matthieu Loicq (°1979):
- Singles:
  - Won in the first round against Damir Mijatovic (CRO) 3-0 (21-17, 21-12, 21-12),
  - Won in the second round against Bela Hegedus (GBR) 3-1 (21-10, 18-21, 21-13, 21-14),
  - Won in the third round against Rocco Balsama (ITA) 3-0 (21-11, 21-10, 21-6),
  - Lost in the fourth round against Osamu Aoyama (JAP) 0-3 (10-21, 13-21, 11-21).
Christophe Mallieu (°1974):
- Singles:
  - Won in the first round against Petr Cerny (SVK) 3-0 (21-13, 21-4, 21-2),
  - lost in the second round against Zakladnyy Gennadiy (UKR) 0-3 (11-21, 10-21, 16-21).
Kurt Van Dam (°1977):
- Singles:
  - Won in the first round against Ian Cochrane (GBR) 3-0 (21-9, 21-11, 21-13),
  - lost in the second round against Thomas Baehr (GER) 0-3 (16-21, 13-21, 12-21).
    Thomas Baehr eventually finished 4th, narrowly missing out on a podium finish.

In the team competition, Belgium played in Group 1 with Japan (gold) and Austria.
Belgium vs. Japan = 0-3
Belgium vs. Austria = 3-0
Austria vs. Japan = 0-3
Group 1 standings: 1. Japan - 2. Belgium - 3. Austria

Belgium then played in a group with Russia, the Netherlands, and Uzbekistan (for places 8-16).
Uzbekistan vs. the Netherlands = 0-3 (World Cup)
Russia vs. Belgium = 3-1
Belgium vs. Uzbekistan = 3-0 (World Cup)
Netherlands vs. Russia = 2-3
Uzbekistan vs. Russia = 0-3 (World Cup)
Netherlands vs. Belgium = 0-3

This left Belgium in 11th place, with Japan (gold), Germany (silver), and Korea (bronze).

Volleyball with 11th place
Group stage (Group D):
Japan vs. Belgium = 3-2
USA vs. Belgium = 3-1
Group D standings: 1. USA - 2. Japan - 3. Belgium

For 9th to 12th places:
Netherlands vs. Belgium = 3-2
For 11th to 12th places:
Belgium vs. Canada = 3-0

Belgium finished 11th out of 12 teams.

Players (12): Bostyn Filip (°1961), Claerman Nico (1961), De Weerdt Danny (1977), De Weerdt Kristof (1973), Degreef Luc (1973), Dumelie Bart (1979), Ferin Olivier (1969), Hessens Tom (1970), Snellings Luc (1969), Stappers Pascal (1966), Van Den Braembussche Jan (1959) and Vermaut Jan (1964).

Swimming

Koen Adriaenssens (°1976):
- 100m breaststroke (5th place) in 1:09.30, finishing behind winner Terence Parkin (RSA) in 1:05.13. 200m breaststroke (5th place) in 2:32.13, behind winner Terence Parkin (RSA) in 2:20.65.
- 100m freestyle (eliminated in qualifying) in 58.28.
- 100m butterfly (4th place) in 1:01.22, behind winner Jake Hammack (USA) in 59.61.
- 200m butterfly (bronze) in 2:14.23, behind winner Francis Roussel (CAN) in 2:11.00.
- 200m individual medley (4th place) in 2:18.23, behind winner Nicky Lange (GER) in 2:12.62.
Elli Van Osselaer (°1979):
- 100m backstroke (bronze) in 1:13.67, behind Tara Dawn Nesbitt (CAN) in 1:10.67.
- 200m backstroke (bronze) in 2:37.83, behind Tara Dawn Nesbitt (CAN) in 2:31.09.
- 100m freestyle (qualified for the B-final but withdrew) in 1:07.26.
- 200m freestyle (7th place) in 2:21.25, behind Ganna Lytvynenko (UKR) in 2:12.17.
- 400m freestyle (7th place) in 4:59.27, behind Aleshia Yet Foy (AUS) in 4:42.69. 800m freestyle (4th place) in 10:11.00, behind Aleshia Yet Foy (AUS) in 9:45.00.

Chef de Mission: Paul De Weerdt.