By Rafael Pinkhasov Pinchas, CISS/Deaflympics Ombudsman

SUMMARIES

*Over 4,500 athletes from 90 nations - a concocted figure!

*A Propaganda Stunt -"3,500 Athletes more than 4,500 athletes from 90 countries" - these figures were quoted at an October 31, 2002 media event held in the presence of the CISS President at Melbourne, Australia;

"3,500 athletes from 125 countries" - this was a statement made by the USADSF President to a newspaper reporter on May 14, 2004;

"3,000 athletes from 80 countries" - the CISS e-News Magazine is still publicizing this revised information in its www.deaflympics.com website;

"100 countries" - an author Stathi Paxinos of the Melbourne-based AGE newspaper wrote in his January 6, 2005 column, that is, a day after the end of Opening Ceremonies of the 20th Summer Games;

"3,641 athletes from 78 countries" - this was a statement made on January 6th by the daily CANADA IN MELBOURNE newsletter published by www.assc-cdsa.com

"94 competing countries" - an author Geraldine Mitchell produced this statistics in her Melbourne-based January 17, 2005 HERALD SUN newspaper issue column, that is, a day after the end of the Games.

As you see, there were many varying and conflicting statements. As one will find out later on, all these numbers are turned out to be inaccurate, inflated and concocted ones.

Yet, the worst - and untrue - statement was made by Sam Quinn, an Australian star athlete, in which he uttered, via his own hands, the signs with such figures as, "3,500 athletes from 94 countries." This propaganda statement was shown live via the large TV set and in the presence of a huge spectator audience at the Olympic Park Stadium, the site of the Opening Ceremonies of the Games on January 5, 2005.

Again, what was the actual number of athletes and nations participating at the just-finished Games in Melbourne?

For what reason, the CISS and others presented to the world their highly-exaggerated and untrue statistics?

Through my detailed research ( this also included my contacts and interviews with several independently-minded CISS Technical Directors in various sports at Melbourne ), I was able to gather the following reliable data such as,

Football - 401 ( this was the total number of athletes participating in this sports at the Games)
Athletics - 243
Basketball - 221
Bowling - 202
Volleyball - 177
Swimming - 146
Table Tennis - 119
Badminton - 112
Wrestling - 88
Handball - 67
Tennis - 52
Water polo- 51
Shooting - 38
Orienteering - 38
Cycling - 33
Beach volleyball - 26.

Overall, the total number of athletes competing at the Games was 2,014.

As for the precise number of nations competing, the result was as follows: 62 nations actually showed up at Melbourne, of which 59 national delegations marched in the Games' Opening Ceremonies, while the three - Ghana, Kenya and Turkmenistan - arrived to the Games site competitions late.

As of January 3, 2005, the CISS had reported that there were 94 "official Member-Nations." However, the truth was that the number of the "official Member-Nations" of the CISS ( that is, to be called "an official Member-Nation," it must fully comply with all the CISS legal system's rules ) was much lesser than the rosy figure of 94. Nearly 30 ( ! ) nations have failed to meet their obligations - especially, the financial one - before the CISS. Among them was ( and still is ) the USA - the Number One Abuser of the CISS' legal system since 2000.

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The most interesting and revealing thing about the issue of the substantially-inflated statistics by the CISS and others was that in its autumn 2002 CISS Executive Committee meeting held in Germany the CISS was pondering to move the 2005 Games' staging to another country because by that time the Australians failed to obtain necessary funding in order to organize the Games on its home ground. The CISS even issued its so-called "yellow card warning" against the 2005 Games organizers.

As part of that "yellow card warning" by the CISS, in 2002 the Australians already violated three different rules of the Deaflympic Games Regulations: Rule 4.F ( that is, the Games Organizing Committee belatedly appointed its travel agent for the travel and accommodation needs for all sporting teams that would have planned to take part at the 2005 Games ) and Rules 19.A and 19.C ( that is, the official poster of the Games was released very belatedly by the Games Organizing Committee ).

Thus, in order to desperately salvage the organization of the Games in Melbourne, the following emergency measures were taken upon:

Dean Barton-Smith, a deaf and ineffective Chairman of the 2005 Games Organizing Committee, was removed from the position and replaced by a hearing woman named Patricia Tracey ( Barton-Smith, by the way, at his age of 38, ended up as a member of team of Australia by throwing discus and shot putting at the 2005 Games competitions );
a massive signature petition drive by the public was staged by demanding the federal and state authorities in Australia to provide funding for the Games;
most importantly, with tacit support of the anti-constitutionally -elected top CISS leaders, a very sophisticated public relations scheme was launched to the world media on October 31, 2002, which was primarily directed at convincing the responsible federal and state officials in Australia that the Deaf Games, like the hearing Olympics, are indeed "a huge affair and financially profitable venture" and that "more than 4,500 athletes from 90 countries" are expected to compete at the Games.

Eventually and somehow, such a propaganda stunt - an irresponsible and false one - worked out: it convinced the Australian authorities to agree to allocate the appropriate amount of funding for the Games.

Although both the secretively and autocratically-managed CISS administration and its surrogate 2005 Games Organizing Committee are still reluctant to publicly disclose the total amount of money received and spent on the recent Games as well as the fact whether the Games produced a deficit or a surplus, it is believed that, according to the reliable sources, between eight to twelve million Australian dollars were earmarked for the Games staging in Melbourne and that, financially, the Games were a fiasco.

This is the second straight time the irresponsible CISS leadership has been engaged in the acts of misleading propaganda and chicanery before the whole world.

In 2003 the CISS misled the IOC, its key financial donor, when it advised Dr. Jacques Rogge, the IOC President, and who, in turn, wrote his greetings message column in a glossy program book honoring the 15th Deaflympic Winter Games. In that program book column it was mentioned by Dr.Rogge that the Deaf Winter Games would have "1,000" persons.

The truth, however, was that only 240 deaf athletes in just 4 sports - alpine and nordic skiing, ice hockey and snowboarding - showed up at these Winter Games in 2003!

Now, the next major event under the auspices of the CISS will be the 16th Deaflympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, in February, 2007.

We will see what kind of a new propaganda trick the top CISS leaders-anarchists will conceive before the world and toward the future potential sponsors of these Games.

www.deafsportlawsuit.com

P.S. Many readers of this website have been asking one and same question related to the accurate number of gold medals won by the nation of the Ukraine at the 2005 Games. Both www.deaflympics.com and www.2005deaflympics.com are still continuing to incorrectly report that the Ukraine won 21 gold medals. The figure should be 20 ( not 21 ) gold medals won. However, it should also be noted that three more gold medals the Ukraine won in orienteering events were illegal ones and in violation of the Deaflympic Games Regulations Rule 7.E. So, the accurate number of gold medals won by the Ukraine at the 2005 Games should be 17. All these mistakes and improperties are part of new and continued pattern of incompetence, imprudence, non-professionalism and anarchism by the CISS administration!