TOKYO – The Gallaudet University Athletics Department was well represented at the 25th Summer Deaflympics held in Tokyo from Nov. 15-26.
The GU contingent included 15 current student athletes and eight athletic coaches and staff as the group represented seven sports across two countries (United States of America and Canada). The sports included; men's basketball, women's basketball, men's track and field, men's volleyball, women's volleyball and wrestling.
Gallaudet Athletics would also like to congratulate other GU alumni that participated at the 2025 Deaflympics, as they competed and had the chance to represent their home country.
Below is a breakdown of current Bison student athletes, coaches and staff at the 2025 Deaflympics:
Men's Basketball
Keanu Ray Boren,
Blessed Mbogo,
Jory Valencia, and Assistant Coach
Keith Westhoelter represented Team USA in men's basketball and earned a gold medal after they defeated Ukraine, 69-59, in the gold medal game.
Samer Sawan represented Team Canada in men's basketball but didn't qualify for the knockout bracket.
Women's Basketball
Emelia Beldon represented Team USA in women's basketball as she earned a silver medal after a loss in the gold medal game to Japan, 65-64.
Men's Track and Field
Sevan Ikeda and
Darius Zarembka represented Team USA in men's track and field. Ikeda participated in two events as he took seventh place in the 5,000 meters event with a time of 15:08.40. He also finished ninth overall in the 1,500 meters run with a time of 4:14.59. Zarembka placed fifth in the high jump after he cleared 1.86 meters. Zarembka also participated in the long jump and took 13th overall (5.65 meters).
Men's Volleyball
Zachary Bippus,
Ben Campman (Assistant Coach),
Tyler Wascher and
Elian Zfati represented Team USA in men's volleyball and finished in fourth place after a 3-1 loss in the bronze medal game to Turkey (26-24, 18-25, 18-25, 16-25).
Women's Volleyball
Ella Gamble,
Nicole Hicks (Team Manager),
Citrine Lummer,
Leila Sicoli,
Brielle Worley, and
Jada Zarembka represented Team USA in women's volleyball and finished fifth overall after they swept Brazil 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-12).
Wrestling
Andrew Suarez represented Team USA in freestyle wrestling in the 125 kg class, where he was eliminated in the qualifying match by Cuba's Tauriaux Ortiz, 4-0 (12-0) by Victory by Superiority in 41 seconds.
Lynn Ray Boren and
Justen Burns represented team USA as team leader. Boren are responsible for sports (work closely with each national sport organization to meet sport's unique needs) and Burns are responsible for operations (athlete services, connecting athletes and all participants with resources).
Tom McKnight and
Teri Wood represented Team USA on the medical staff as McKnight focused on men's and women's basketball while Wood focused on men's and women's track and field.
"The Tokyo Deaflympics is one of my favorite sites. It was my first time attending the Deaflympics in a non-competing role, providing service to all athletes and staff. It was a proud moment for me to serve as a leader for our red, white, and blue national team," said
Lynn Ray Boren.
"Serving as Team Leader for Operations at the Tokyo Deaflympics reminded me that everything we do is truly for the athletes. My job was to handle the behind-the-scenes details so our Deaf and hard of hearing athletes could focus on competing at their best. Now, back at Gallaudet, my goal is to take what I learned about organization, communication, and team culture and pour it into our Bison student-athletes every day," said Burns.
Ukraine had the most medals for the 2025 Deaflympics with 92 medals including 30 gold. Team USA brought home 34 medals (16 gold).
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