Turkey ranks 4th in Deaflympics games

SAMSUN, Turkey Turkey ranked fourth at the end of the 23rd Deaflympics games held at the coastal Black Sea province of Samsun on Sunday with a total of 46 medals. Russia came first with 85 gold, 53 silver and 46 bronze medals. Ukraine followed with 99 medals including 21 gold, 42 silver and 36 bronze while South Korea ranked third with 52. The 23rd Summer Deaflympics began on July 18 with more than 3,000 athletes from 97 countries -- marking the largest number of participants in the event’s history. The athletes competed in 21 categories, including athletics, basketball, football, swimming and wrestling, at 37 venues in eight districts in Samsun. Turkey had 294 athletes participating in the games. The first games for the deaf, known then as the International Silent Games, were held in 1924 in Paris with athletes from nine European nations participating. The medal rankings at the end of the 12-day event are as follows: Country Gold Silver Bronze Total 1 Russia 85 53 61 199 2 Ukraine 21 42 36 99 3 South Korea 18 20 14 52 4 Turkey 17 7 22 46 5 China 14 9 11 34 6 Japan 6 9 12 27 7 Iran 5 9 20 34 8 Venezuela 5 5 8 18 9 Kenya 5 5 6 16 10 U.S. 5 3 8 16