Deaf News: Crisis at International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD)

Posted on August 3, 2018 by



A crisis in Deaf sports has deepened after the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD) appointed a new President, Rebecca Adam from Australia, without consulting its wider membership.

This followed the the retirement of the previous President, Valery Rukhledev from Russia, in the wake of his arrest after being accused of embezzling money from the All-Russian Society of the Deaf in Moscow.

With his replacement being appointed by the Board, at least 46 countries have now called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to take action.

The 2019 Winter Deaflympics and 2021 Deaflympics are now in the balance, with the hosts yet to be confirmed.

Inside the Games reported:

Crisis levels surrounding the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD) have intensified today after 46 countries called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to intervene in what they describe as an “unacceptable coup” by the organisation’s Board.

It followed the appointment of Australia’s Rebecca Adam as President for the next three years by the Board earlier this week in a decision made without consultation with the wider membership.

A group of 46 countries from four regional Confederations have appealed to the IOC administration and Ethics Commission to intervene in “supporting the ICSD’s own constitution” at a “critical juncture” for the community.

Controversy escalated in May this year when ICSD President Valery Rukhledev was arrested and placed under house arrest for two months in his home country of Russia.

The 70-year-old, a six-time Deaflympics champion for the Soviet Union between 1969 and 1977 in Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling who had led the world governing body since 2013, was charged under the Russian Criminal Code and accused of embezzling over RUB50 million (£604,000/$803,800/€690,000) from the All-Russian Society of the Deaf in Moscow.

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Posted in: deaf news