Harvey Spoor Deaf Euro Swimming
Donation protected
Harvey Spoor (13) from Stubbington and a member of Fareham Nomads Swimmer Club, has been selected to represent Great Britain at the forth coming European Deaf Swimming championships to be held in Lublin, Poland between 2nd and 7th July.
Harvey has recently returned from the GB Deaf National swimming championships and training weekend, which were held at the Loughborough University swimming pool over the weekend 23rd to 25th March, where he became the 14 & under champion in the 200m IM, 100m Freestyle, 100m Backstroke, 100m butterfly and 100m Breaststroke.
Harvey was diagnosed as having hearing loss at the age of 4 and through the Elizabeth Foundation at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham he has been able to lead a normal life and integrate into the local community, currently in Year 8 at Crofton School in Stubbington, and swimming with Fareham Nomads Swimming club.
This opportunity for Harvey to represent Great Britain follows his involvement with the Great Britain Deaf swimming Club (GBDSC) at a national level since 2016 whilst training and competing for Fareham Nomads Swimming Club at a regional level. The forth coming European championships are hopefully the first opportunity for Harvey to represent Great Britain with the World Championships taking place in 2019 in São Paulo, Brazil and the Deaflympics in 2021 in either Los Angeles or Dubai.
Unfortunately, unlike other disabilities deafness is not recognised under the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) classifications and therefore not included in Paralympic competitions and as such separate competitions, including the Deaflympics, are held to allow deaf competitors to compete on an equal platform.
At the 2017 Deaflympics, held in Samsun, Turkey, Great Britain won 9medals in total (3Gold, 1 silver & 5bronze) with swimming securing 7medals (3gold & 4bronze) of the total. This exceeded the pre-competition expectation of 5medals.
However, despite this success as a whole and particularly in the pool, the fact that deafness is not recognised as a disability by the IPC also means that it does not attract any government, Sport England or lottery funding and therefore the costs associated with attending the training camps and representing Great Britain at competitions, such as the forth coming Europeans, has to borne by the individuals themselves.
Harvey has recently returned from the GB Deaf National swimming championships and training weekend, which were held at the Loughborough University swimming pool over the weekend 23rd to 25th March, where he became the 14 & under champion in the 200m IM, 100m Freestyle, 100m Backstroke, 100m butterfly and 100m Breaststroke.
Harvey was diagnosed as having hearing loss at the age of 4 and through the Elizabeth Foundation at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham he has been able to lead a normal life and integrate into the local community, currently in Year 8 at Crofton School in Stubbington, and swimming with Fareham Nomads Swimming club.
This opportunity for Harvey to represent Great Britain follows his involvement with the Great Britain Deaf swimming Club (GBDSC) at a national level since 2016 whilst training and competing for Fareham Nomads Swimming Club at a regional level. The forth coming European championships are hopefully the first opportunity for Harvey to represent Great Britain with the World Championships taking place in 2019 in São Paulo, Brazil and the Deaflympics in 2021 in either Los Angeles or Dubai.
Unfortunately, unlike other disabilities deafness is not recognised under the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) classifications and therefore not included in Paralympic competitions and as such separate competitions, including the Deaflympics, are held to allow deaf competitors to compete on an equal platform.
At the 2017 Deaflympics, held in Samsun, Turkey, Great Britain won 9medals in total (3Gold, 1 silver & 5bronze) with swimming securing 7medals (3gold & 4bronze) of the total. This exceeded the pre-competition expectation of 5medals.
However, despite this success as a whole and particularly in the pool, the fact that deafness is not recognised as a disability by the IPC also means that it does not attract any government, Sport England or lottery funding and therefore the costs associated with attending the training camps and representing Great Britain at competitions, such as the forth coming Europeans, has to borne by the individuals themselves.
Organizer
Michael Spoor
Organizer
