Deaf International Basketball Federation share the latest update on their work to become compliant. with WADA ‘Clean Sport’ code
DIBF Update on WADA Compliance
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Tag Archives: ICSD
It’s a busy time for Deaf Martial Arts!
Both the Deaf Karate and Taekwondo World Championships are taking place alongside each other in Tehran, Iran.
Details of schedules, competitors and competitions can be found on their websites.
We must make a caution, that our browser indicates that both websites are not secure, so visiting will be at your own risk.
Also, the 1st World Deaf Judo Championships took place last month in Versailles, France. This was also a shared-venue completion, held along side the 1st CISM championships.
CISM ( International Council of Military Sports) See video clip at foot of page.
Two Big Ears are very pleased to see International Deaf Sports organisations working closer to their International Federations and being included with parallel events – makes good use of resources and creates opportunties to raise the profile of Deaf athletes.
ICSD Blame Poland Organising Committee for Doping Omission
Last night, ICSD Interim President pointed the finger of blame at the Polish Organising Committee for lack of anti-doping tests at Swimming World Championships.
Yesterday we reported on the concerns from Christof Niklaus, a technical representative at the 1st World Deaf Short Course Swimming Championships that there are no arrangements in place to test swimmers to ensure there are no doping violations.
WADA have been made aware of the situation and the concerns that ICSD and Russia may have colluded to avoid the testing.
At last nights technical meeting, Christof asked Gustavo, the ICSD Interim President if he could explain why there was no anti-doping at the championships to which he replied to email the ICSD office.
Christof repeated his question “because he is the ICSD representative at these championships and therefore should answer my question.“
In his second reply, Gustavo blamed the Poland Organising Committee for not organising anti-doping tests.
Christof considers Gustavo’s reply to show that he is “A very poor president, not fit for office.”
We understand that all Deaf World Championship organising committees are obliged to follow all regulations for hosting sports events if they wish to be sanctioned by the ICSD. In the process, ICSD should have appointed its Technical Director of swimming to work closely with the Organising Committee to ensure that arrangements were in place to meet WADA regulations. Therefore ICSD cannot deflect the blame on the Organising Committee, it must also accept that it is also responsible and if necessary withdrawing its stamp of approval to a non-compliant event.
The ICSD Chief Executive Dmitry Rebrov continues to hold the office of Secretary General of the All-Russian Sports Federation of Deaf Sport. He would also be responsible, on behalf of the ICSD Board, for overseeing the work of the Technical Commission to ensure that the WADA code of practice is implemented. This blatant conflict of interest does nothing to safeguard the protection of clean athletes especially when Rebrov has also been found guilty in a Russian court of falsifying audiograms.
After Valery Rukhledev was removed from office, the ICSD Board attempted to deal with the misdemeanours and subordination of Rebrov which would have had a part to play in the leadership split that we now have in the organisation.
Special Video Report ‘ICSD Leadership and Deaflympics’
Yesterday H3 World TV released a video report to try and explain why ICSD leadership is split into to camps.
Video is shared here with expressed permission from H3.
ICSD Accused of Double Standards with Anti-Doping Regulations
Observers at the World Deaf Short Course Swimming Championships are wondering why the event organisers have not arranged anti-doping testing for the swimmers whilst also declaring the IDBF of non-compliance.
Christof Niklaus, former ICSD Technical Director for Football has been observing events at the 1st World Deaf Short Course Swimming Championships taking place in Poland this week and he has reported his concerns to WADA (World Anti Doping Agency) because there have been no doping tests.
Christof is at the event as GB’s technical officer supporting swimmer Nathan Young. His complaint comes as the ICSD has released a statement this week declaring DIBF (Deaf International Basketball Federation) non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code. This means that players and officials of the DIBF are not allowed to hold office or take part in competitions (regional and international) until they make arrangement to meet WADA requirements.
What is worrying Christof is that the Russian swimmers are ‘dominating in all events with no testing to provide confidence in their performances’
The question is how ICSD can remain compliant to the WADA code if it is allowing a sanctioned event to take place without doping testing. ICSD’s lack of control and compliance is due to its lack of support to Deaf sport federations with ‘historical under-resourcing and under-education.’
A WADA representative has quickly responded to Christof by email ‘we are fully committed to supporting DIBF, and ICSD, in making sure that the protection of clean deaf athletes is safeguarded, and strengthen if needed, at all times.’
Christof is picking up ‘word here in Poland of collusion between ICSD and Russia, to avoid having the Russian team be the subject of anti-doping tests.’ He has asked WADA to pass this information on to its own Intelligence & Investigations team. There remains a serious conflict of interest as the ICSD Executive Officer Dmitry Rebrov also remains Secretary General of the All-Russian Sports Federation of Deaf Sport.
WADA sent another reply to this news ‘Your email has been taken very seriously and already been forwarded to the relevant departments of WADA for follow up. We are also following up very closely the situation at DIBF which has been provided all the necessary support over the past few months.’
Christof’s role in Poland is to function as official support and representative for GB’s only entrant Nathan Young who has been sharing his frustrations that there is still a lack of performance funding for Deaflympic athletes in the UK and blames the DCMS, Sport England and UK Sport for ignoring them.
(Photo by Christof Niklaus)
ICSD Members Hope for Integrity at Extraordinary Congress
As preparations are made for the ICSD Extraordinary Congress in Lausanne Switzerland, delegates are still uncertain about the integrity of governance.
Ever since the resignation of ICSD President Kang in 2020, the Deaflympic movement has seen the leadership plunge into confusion and uncertainty. It is hoped that at the end of this month (November 28-29th) actions will be made to stabilise the organisation. If this is not done, many are fearful for its future.
The governing board of ICSD has split into two camps with both claiming to be in control, both sending out conflicting bulletins and counterclaims leaving members uncertain about who is in charge.
There are mixed messages coming from Brazil, the host nation of the next Summer Deaflympic games – delegates in Congress will be asking which organising committee is viable and it is expected that they will then vote to decide which city will host the games, Rio de Janeiro or Caxias do Sol.
The finances of ICSD have not been agreed by congress since 2013 and somehow the extraordinary meeting will try to approve a financial report covering the 2013 -2019 period.
If that was not enough, the agenda also includes the long awaited ICSD Reform document. The aim of this work was to create a new IDC – International Deaflympic Committee to be recognised as similar in function to the IOC and IPC with each nation having its own National Deaflympic Committee. This work was started in 2008 and observers are concerned that this has taken too long to get ratified that it may be an irrelevance in the current situation.
Whilst these are the main points of concern, the leadership dispute between the group of regional representatives and the CEO versus the remainder of the board has produced TWO alternative agendas with both sides claiming legitimacy and control over congress procedures. An option open to Congress is the election of new leaders.
Congress will also listen to evidence about the legal standing of CEO Rebrov, who has isolated the opposing board members by removing access to their ciss.org emails and office servers. These board members are insisting that Rebrov has been removed from his post and has no legal standing in the organisation.
Because of Covid regulations and restrictions delegates will either be attending in person or on-line via the internet. It is expected that two neutral scrutineers will be appointed to take control of proceedings and ensure integrity.
Onlookers are concerned that the situation is being observed by officials at the IOC and its membership of the Olympic movement is at risk. However, there are several other International Federations in mainstream sport that are also facing governance challenges of corruption, insubordination, abdication, and dereliction of duty etc. The IOC policy is not to get involved with internal conflicts and encourages the federations to resolve their own problems.
The question being asked is: Will a two- or three-day meeting be enough to get things in order?
ICSD Chair of Technical Commission Sets the Record Straight
After viewing our interview with former ICSD President Craig Crowley, the most senior Technical Director in the ICSD has come on record to give you information about some of the concerns raised in our interview with Crowley
This post replaces the original which we had to remove due to video tech issues. We apologise for the earlier trouble you may have expereinced in trying to download.
This interview was recorded on 30th July 2021. It is accessible partly in BSL and International Sign and supported with English subtitles.
Former ICSD President Responds to Interim Presidents Letter
Last week Gustavo Perozzolo, ICSD Interim President wrote to national members to request ‘calm and focus’ in response to ongoing concerns and criticisms. In reply, former ICSD President Craig Crowley has made a video reply to the letter to raise concerns about its content and the current situation of next year’s Summer Deaflympics.
Craig Crowley approached Two Big Ears and requested that we publish his concerns. This video interview is presented in BSL, International Sign and supported with English subtitles.
Fear about the decline of the Deaflympics.
The UK online TV programme company BSL Zone recently released a documentary explaining concerns about the future of the Deaflympic Games.
Deaflympics: Running Out of Time? is a 28 minute in-depth look at how the Deaflympics Games started and what may be in store for the future.
“Presenter Aimee Campbell-Nottage looks at the history of the Deaflympic Games, which started in 1924 and continues to pit the best Deaf sportspeople from across the world against each other. Aimee also looks at how the Deaflympics celebrates Deaf culture and brings people from across the world together in a celebration of sport. But, what about the future of the Deaflympics? Is it really Running Out Of Time? Directed and edited by Sebastian Cunliffe, this programme was produced for BSLBT by ITV SignPost.” (BSL Zone website)
It features former ICSD President Craig Crowley, current ICSD Vice President Gustavo Perazzolo and former EDSO President Isabelle Malaurie.
The initial ideas for the documentary came from researchers reading the book Same Spirit Different Team – The Politicisation of the Deaflympics by Stuart Harrison who also features as the programme’s consultant.
Watch the film here.
The BSL Zone website has a great page to find several more of their documentaries about Deaf sport and its inspiring organisations, athletes and personalities.
ICSD Legal Advisors Quit
For several weeks now, leaders in the ICSD have been arguing amongst themselves in an attempt to maintain control of the Deaflympic movement. Today Donalda Ammons, Honorary ICSD member and Adam Kosa, member of the European Parliament announced their resignation as advisors to the ICSD. They have shared their decision by video message and their translation is available in full here.
To ICSD community,
Please see attached video statement made by Dr. Donalda AMMONS and Dr. Adam KOSA about ICSD.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/n9fbgxxwecf6dlr/DAAK.mp4?dl=0
Translation/Description of this video:
(DA: Donalda Ammons AK: Adam Kosa)
“DA: Hello everyone! I am Donalda Ammons, retired university professor, former president of the ICSD, now honorary member of the ICSD and member of the Deaf Sport Reform commission.
AK: Hello everyone! I am Adam Kosa, lawyer, former member of the ICSD Legal Committee, member of the European Parliament.
DA: One month ago, we were shocked about president of ICSD, Kang Chen’s resignation, then some unclear announcements made by Dimitry Rebrov CEO, Gustavo Perazzolo VP, and members of the Executive Board – members- national sport federations are very confused until now.
AK: Donalda and I received request from Executive Board to help them as advisers. We agreed and prepared some proposals.
DA: I and Adam accepted their request. I as chief adviser and Adam as legal adviser. Important: we advise ONLY FOR ICSD, not for EB nor CEO/VP.
AK: We made a clear and sustainable strategy for our advisory work, but before starting our effective work…
DA: We requested written pledges from all stakeholders (VP’s, CEO, EB and president of 4 regional confederations) with same text for trustworthy cooperation.
AK: Sadly, after one month we receive only 7 pledges (include ours) – only from ICSD EB member at large and VP youth sports. No pledges from 4 regional confederation presidents,
DA: and, no responses or reflections from Gustavo Perazzolo VP and Dimitry Rebrov CEO. After one month, we decided to step down as advisers for ICSD: we cannot work without trustworthy cooperation. We are very disappointed.
And now?
We propose only one way: setting up an extraordinary congress as soon as possible in accordance to present pandemic situation with following agenda: approval of Deaf Sport Reform, approval of financial audits from past 5 years, election of the new Executive Board.
AK: now ICSD has no clear leadership. We call all stakeholders – VPs, member of the EB and CEO – for cooperation to save our deaf world sport movement.
DA: ICSD has a very rich past. We are very trouble about ICSD’s future. Dear Members- National Sport Federations, please cooperate and save ICSD!”
We remain at your disposal,
with best regards,
Dr. Donalda AMMONS and Dr. Adam KOSA
Two Big Ears 