The Government have recently pulled all funding out from under GB Deaf Olympic Sport, in order to push more money towards 2012. This means that certain Deaf Athletes have spent the last 3 years preparing for the honour of representing GB on the world stage at the Deaflympics 2009 in Taipei; only to be told they can’t go.

Deaf Sport is a minority sport in the UK, understandably- and very few of you will have heard of the Deaf Olympics established in 1924- but we feel that in the UK deaf athletes do not have equality of opportunity when compared to regular Olympic and Paralympic athletes.

Regular Olympic athletes and Paralympic athletes are given tens of millions of YOUR money to train for, and then attend, international sporting events on behalf of the nation- and there is no doubt that they thoroughly deserve it. Yet, it would seem Deaf Athletes are not given similar opportunities.

The last Olympics saw each GB medal brought home cost around £1.6 million. The last Deaf Olympics (where GB won 16 medals) saw each medal cost only £1,400.

UK Deaf Sport have stated that if we cannot find suitable funding for the GB Deaf Olympic team, they will pull out en masse. It will be the first time GB have not entered a team in the event’s history.

If you feel this is unfair, and would like to add your support to the campaign to reinstate funding, please take 2 minutes to sign the petition at:

petitions.pm.gov.uk/GBDeaflympics

Further articles about this sorry state of affairs can be read at:

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4091987.ece

and

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4092032.ece

Further information about UK Deaf Sport and the Deaf Olympics can be found at: www.ukdeafsport.org.uk