Team SA are competing in their ninth Deaflympics since their first appearance in 1993, in Sofia, Bulgaria. There are 14 Team SA athletes spread across four different sports at the 25th Summer Deaflympics in Tokyo, from 15-26 November.
Here is a history of Team SA at the Deaflympics, having accumulated 62 medals from their eight previous such Games.
1993 Sofia: 37 athletes, 4 medals
1997 Copenhagen: 30 athletes, 9 medals
2001 Rome: 14 athletes, 13 medals
2005 Melbourne: 22 athletes, 19 medals
2009 Tapei: 38 athletes, 12 medals
2013 Sofia: 28 athletes, 3 medals
2017 Samsun: 4 athletes, 2 medals
2022: Caxias do Sul: 7 athletes, 0 medals
2025 Tokyo: 14 athletes
Swimmer Terence Parkin, now 45 and part of the Team SA squad in Tokyo, has a tally of 33 career Deaflympics medals. James Willers, the country’s first Deaf amputee swimmer to compete at the Deaflympics.
For the first time since 2013, table tennis returns to the Deaflympics stage for Team SA, thanks to the qualification of Sinovuyo Tyulu and Thabisa Qhude.