National Team of Ukraine Triumphs at the XX Winter Deaflympics

The National Deaflympic team of Ukraine concluded its participation in the landmark XX Winter Deaflympics 2023. For the first time in Ukraine's history of participation in the Winter Deaflympics, the team emerged victorious, securing the top spot in the medal tally. This was reported by the National Sports Committee for the Disabled of Ukraine, Paralympic Committee.

A total of 598 athletes with hearing impairments from 36 countries participated in the main four-yearly event. The largest number of athletes was represented by teams from Turkey – 55, Italy – 42, and Japan – 39. The games featured 34 sets of medals across six sports disciplines: alpine skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, curling, chess, and futsal.

The National Deaflympic team of Ukraine competed for 28 sets of medals across five sports disciplines, including cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, curling, snowboarding, and chess. As a result of their performances in these disciplines, Ukrainian athletes secured 10 gold, 5 silver, and 4 bronze medals, enabling them to top the overall medal standings of the games. China's team claimed the second position with 7 gold medals, while Austria's team took the third place with 6 gold medals.

It is worth noting that Ukraine led the medal standings throughout most of the tournament—only one out of the 11 competitive days saw Ukrainian athletes in the second position, with all other days resulting in the first place in the overall team standings.

Overall, fourteen Ukrainian athletes, nine of whom are multi-medallists, clinched gold medals at the XX Winter Deaflympics.

Additionally, it should be noted that the Deaflympic teams of Russia and Belarus were absent from the games. Organizers allowed athletes from these countries to participate on a neutral basis, but they opted to withdraw from participation.

"The absence of these aggressor countries is the result of painstaking work by the National Committee for Disabled Sports of Ukraine in collaboration with the Deaf Sports Federation of Ukraine. The outcome of this meticulous diplomatic work led to the establishment of stringent criteria for 'neutrality', which were deemed unacceptable by the leadership of the sports committees of Russia and Belarus, thereby contributing to their decision to abstain from participation in the Games," noted the National Committee for Disabled Sports of the Paralympic Committee of Ukraine.

It is worth reminding that The Gaze reported that Ukrainian athlete Yaroslava Maguchikh became the vice-world champion in athletics.