Letitia Alma Vriesde is a former track and field athlete from Suriname, who specialised in the 800 metres but was also successful over 1500 metres. She is the first sportsperson from Suriname to compete at five Olympic Games. She won a silver medal at the 1995 World Championships and a bronze medal at the 2001 World Championships. Vriesde holds the South American records for the 800 metres, 1000 metres and 1500 metres and also for the 3000 metres (indoors).
Ulrike Bruns is a retired East German athlete who competed mainly in the 1500 metres and 3000 metres.
Djibouti first participated at the Olympic Games in 1984, and have competed in every Summer Olympic Games, apart from the 2004 edition, since then. They have never competed in the Winter Olympic Games.
Christina Tracy Boxer-Cahill is a retired female middle distance athlete from England. She represented Great Britain at three Olympic Games, in Moscow 1980, Los Angeles 1984 and Seoul 1988 and trained at Aldershot, Farnham & District AC. In Seoul, she finished fourth in the 1500 metres final. She also won a gold medal in the 1500 m at the 1982 Commonwealth Games. In 1979, she became the first British woman in history to run the 800 metres in under two-minutes.
Totka Nikolaeva Petrova is a retired female middle distance runner who represented Bulgaria in the 1970s and the early 1980s. She specialized in the 800 and 1500 metres, and won numerous international medals. She is still the Bulgarian 1500 metres record holder.
Alysia Montaño is an American middle distance runner. She is a six-time USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships 800 metres champion. She gained significant publicity for the 2014 race that she competed while 8 months pregnant.
Annet Negesa is a Ugandan former middle-distance runner who specialised in the 800 metres. She broke Ugandan national records in the 800 m and the 1500 metres as a teenager and was a three-time national champion at the Ugandan Athletics Championships. She represented her country at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and was the 800 m gold medallist at the 2011 All-Africa Games. As a junior (under-20) athlete, she won a team bronze medal at the 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, an 800 m bronze at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics, and two gold medals at the 2011 African Junior Athletics Championships. She was named 2011 Athlete of the Year by Uganda Athletics Federation.
The First International Silent Games, or First International Games for the Deaf, now referred to retroactively as the 1924 Summer Deaflympics, were the inaugural edition of the Deaflympics. The Games were held in Paris, France, from 10 to 17 August 1924, as an equivalent to the Olympic Games for deaf athletes. They were organised on the initiative of deaf Frenchman Eugène Rubens-Alcais, who, just after the Games, co-founded the Comité International des Sports des Sourds with other "deaf sporting leaders". The 1924 Games were "the first games ever" for athletes with a disability, preceding the World Wheelchair and Amputee Games in 1948, which became the Paralympic Games in 1960 but which did not include events for deaf athletes.
Sifan Hassan is a Dutch middle- and long-distance runner. She is most recognized for her versatility in running championship and world-leading performances in widely disparate distances. She completed an unprecedented triple at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning gold medals in both the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres and a bronze medal for the 1,500 metres. Hassan is the only athlete in Olympic history to win medals across a middle-distance event and both long-distance races in a single Games. She is only the second of three women to complete an Olympic distance double. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Hassan secured a bronze medal in both the women's 5,000 m and 10,000 m events and gold in the women's marathon, becoming the only woman to win the Olympic gold medal in the 5,000 metres, 10,000 metres and Marathon races.
Ruth Mae Taubert Seeger was an American athlete and coach. She was the first woman to be chosen for the United States track and field team for the 1957 World Games for the Deaf.
Ciara Mageean is a middle-distance runner from Portaferry in Northern Ireland who specialises in the 1500 metres. She is the 2024 European Athletics Championships gold medalist at the distance, the first individual Irish European champion since Sonia O'Sullivan.
Konstanze "Koko" Klosterhalfen is a German middle- and long-distance runner. She is the 2019 World Championship bronze medallist and 2022 European champion in the 5000 metres, becoming the first German medalist of the event at the World Athletics Championships and the first German winner of the event at the European Athletics Championships. At the European Indoor Championships, Klosterhalfen won silver medals for the 1500 metres in 2017 and the 3000 metres in 2019 and 2023. She took four individual medals at the European Cross Country Championships. In February 2020, she set a European indoor record in the 5000 m with 14:30.79, the fourth fastest time ever.
Rebecca Meyers is an American Paralympic swimmer. She won three gold and one silver medals in Rio 2016. She was also a member of the 2012 Paralympic Team, and won a silver and bronze in London. Rebecca Meyers has also competed at the 2009 Summer Deaflympics which was held in Taiwan, which is also her only appearance at the Deaflympics. She also clinched a bronze medal in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay event in the 2009 Summer Deaflympics.
Hanna Klein is a German middle- and long-distance runner. She won the gold medal in the 3000 metres at the 2023 European Indoor Championships and bronze for the 1500 metres at the 2021 European Indoor Championships. Klein finished fifth in the 1500 m at the 2022 European Championships. She took gold for the 5000 metres at the 2017 Universiade.
Melinda Louise Vernon is an Australian female deaf track and field athlete, triathlete as well as a swimmer. She competed at the 2009 Summer Deaflympics and in the 2013 Summer Deaflympics representing Australia. Vernon won 2 gold, 1 silver and a bronze medal in the Deaflympic events she had competed in Athletic events.
Suslaidy Girat Rivero is a Cuban female deaf track and field athlete. She has competed at the Deaflympics in 2009, 2013 and in 2017 representing Cuba. Suslaidy Girat has won 8 medals in the Deaflympics including 6 gold medals and set the landmark for becoming the finest ever Cuban to have competed at the Deaflympics.
Beryl Atieno Wamira is a Kenyan female deaf track and field athlete. She competed in the 2013 Summer Deaflympics and in the 2017 Summer Deaflympics representing Kenya. She has won a total of 3 medals in her Deaflympic career including a Junior deaf world record breaking gold medal in the women's 200m event during the 2013 Summer Deaflympics.
Tereza Kmochová is a Czech deaf female alpine skier. She has represented Czech Republic in Winter Deaflympics, Winter Universiade and in the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. She generally competes in the women's combined, slalom, giant slalom, Super-G events at international alpine skiing competitions. She is considered one of the finest deaflympic alpine skiers to have competed at the Deaflympics and also regarded as a finest athlete to have represented Czech Republic at the Deaflympics with a record haul of 10 medals including 7 gold medals. In the 2015 Winter Deaflympics she created history after winning gold medals in all five events such as giant slalom, super combined, slalom, downhill and Super-G.
Trude Raad is a deaf Norwegian track and field athlete. She generally competes in the discus throw and hammer throw events at the International competitions. Trude has represented Norway at the Deaflympics in 2009, 2013 and 2017 and has won 4 gold medals in her Deaflympic career. She was also a champion in the women's hammer throw event at the Deaflympics on 3 consecutive occasions. She broke her own deaf world record in the women's hammer throw at the 2017 Summer Deaflympics with a distance of 66.35m, the previous best was 65.03m
Nele Alder-Baerens is a German female distance runner and marathon runner. She is regarded as one of the finest long-distance runners from Germany to have represented the nation at the Deaflympics. Nele Alder-Baerens has represented Germany at the Deaflympics in 1997, 2001, 2005, 2017 and in 2022 has clinched 5 medals in her Deaflympic career including 2 gold medals. She is also the defending champion in the women's marathon at the Deaflympics. Nele also currently holds few deaf world records in the women's Athletics.
