Doping Control and Audiology Testing during the Winter Deaflympics 2019

The Winter Deaflympics are a major international deaf multi-sport event held once every four years.

The 2019 Winder Deaflympics, officially known as the XIX Winter Deaflympics and commonly known as Valtellina-Valchiavenna 2019 took place in Northern Italy from 12 to 21 December 2019.

923 people from 34 countries have joined hands under the umbrella of the deaf sports spirit. With the main theme “We need a chance”, athletes proved to the Sports World that they could perform great sport challenges on the high international level.

With the idea to ensure equity among athletes and to promote the idea of “Clean Sport”, ICSD, as the main governing body responsible for the organization of the Deaflympics, has conducted the Audiology and Doping Testing.

Doping Control Testing
The World Anti-Doping Agency, the Italian Federation of Sports Medicine and the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf have joined forces to promote the idea of “Clean Sport” and arrange doping control testing. The Laboratorio Antidoping FMSI reported that 31 athletes who participated and taken for tests were fully doping-free. 1 Athlete has received the Notification on Adverse Analytical Finding. ICSD as the Result Management Authority has already initiated the appropriate investigation.

Audiology Testing
Following the Audiogram Regulations, ICSD organized the Audiology Testing. Already traditionally, the ICSD Audiology team was composed of Australian, United States and Russian representatives. The main purpose of the ICSD Audiologists was to test new athletes and athletes “At risk”. An excellent outcome of 170 athletes was achieved with no sanctions and none-compliance with the Regulations.

The whole ICSD Team sincere and heartfelt gratitude goes out to all our partners and supporters for their input, expertise, valued support and personal encouragement.