Sandy Hutchens Donations 2009

Posted by Sandy Hutchens
September 7, 2009 – Taipei, Taiwan – The World Deaf Track & Field Championships have been awarded to Toronto, Ontario by the International Committee for the Deaf Sports.
The event will be held from July 14-22, 2012 The successful bid Committee of Rohan Smith, Katya Gorodetska and Christina Macatangay from Toronto worked diligently to prepare for the bid of the 2nd World Deaf Athletics Championships. At the ICSD congress in Taipei, Taiwan, a presentation was given to the membership and Toronto was accepted as the host city of this prestigious event.
The preparation and plans for the bid took hundreds hours and dedicated work. Mr. Smith and his team had meetings involving the Provinces of Ontario, City of Toronto, University of Toronto and Ontario Track & Field Association, to ensure their support for this event. Part of the successful bid for Toronto surely has to do with Rohan Smith’s impressive credentials. Rohan Smith graduated from Gallaudet University in 1991 with an accounting degree. Rohan was the President of the Ontario Deaf Sports Association and is an accomplished deaf Athletics star. Rohan broke the record at the 1988 Deaflympics and 1989 Commonwealth Games. Smith won Silver medals in the 100 m at the Deaflympics in 1985 and 1989 with a Personal best of 10.40 seconds. In 1993, Rohan was the relay team mate of Donavan Bailey and was the Assistant Coach for Team Canada for the 2001 Deaflympics in Rome.
Mark Dunn, Vice –President of the CDSA and ICSD Canadian Congress delegate says, “Rohan has proven to us he is dedicated to developing grass-roots sports at the provincial level. Now, he is taking all of his experiences and bringing this World event to his hometown. What an accomplishment.”
One of Rohan’s beliefs is the following: “Winning this is not only about offering competitive sports to Deaf athletes on an International level, but about providing opportunities to build upon their skills, develop friendships, network and take pride in themselves as well as in the worldwide Deaf community. Deaf athletes are distinguished from all others in their special communication needs on the sports field, as well as in the social interaction that is an equally vital part of the games”.