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The Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics, which took place between 15 and 26 November, brought together around 3,000 hearing-impaired athletes from around 80 countries competing in 21 sports. This important event marks the centenary of this multi-sport event, whose first edition took place in 1924.

Our country participated for the ninth time in this competition, since its debut in Sofia in 1993, having won since then a total of 19 medals (eight gold, four silver and seven bronze). Portugal was represented with 13 participants, who competed in five modalities: athletics, cycling, judo, swimming and shooting.

National athletes compete in athletics, with five – Francisco Laranjeira, Gustavo Pereira, Hemilton Costa, Margarida Silva and Ricardo Gomes. In swimming, with four — Diogo Neves, Miguel Cruz, Ricardo Belezas and Tiago Neves. In cycling, André Soares, who won two medals in the last edition of the competition contested in Caxias do Sul, Brazil, in 2022, and João Marques will defend the national colors, while in judo will mark the presence of Joana Santos, who has four medals in Deaflympics in the palmarés. Nuno Esteves will be our representative in the shooting.

Portugal has won six medals: three gold medals, two silver and one bronze at the Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics, in what was his best performance ever, especially Margarida Silva, André Soares and Joana Santos.

Margarida Silva won two gold medals and one silver in athletics, André Soares one silver and one bronze in cycling and Joana Santos one gold in judo.

In athletics the three medals were all obtained by Margarida Silva, gold in the 800m and 5,000m and silver in the 1,500m. In cycling, André Soares won the silver medal in the individual time trial and was bronze in the points race. In judo was Joana Santos who also contributed to the huge participation of the Portugal team in Tokyo and was in evidence by snatching gold in the -57kg category, revalidating the title achieved three years ago in Caxias do Sul, Brazil.

Also worth mentioning are the athletes Francisco Laranjeira, who was fourth in the 5,000 meters and João Marques was seventh in the road race, in the distance of 100 kilometers. Both have secured two deaflympic diplomas.

This sporting event, held every four years, is organized by the International Committee of Sport for the Deaf (ICSD), was created in 1924 and in 1955 was admitted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as an international federation. The Tokyo2025 edition was the centenary games.

To participate in the Games, athletes must have lost 55 decibels in their "best ear", not being allowed to use any hearing aids or implants.

The host city of the 2029 Summer Olympics for the Deaf has not yet been defined, with Athens, Greece, and Zagreb, Croatia, the candidate cities.

CREDITS OF THE IMAGE: PARALIMPIC COMMITTEE OF PORTUGAL