News

Building on its long term association with the Olympic movement, Ocean Outdoor has announced an official new partnership with UK Deaf Sport and DeaflympicsGB.

The Deaflympics is one of the four Olympic events recognised by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and UK Deaf Sport is the recognised International Federation for Deaf Sport in the UK. The affiliation aligns with Ocean’s existing long term partnerships with Team GB, ParalympicsGB and Special Olympics GB.

UK Deaf Sport works in partnership with key organisations to ensure that deaf children, young people and adults have equal opportunities to participate and excel in sport and physical activity as their hearing counterparts, from grassroots to elite level.

They enter and support all deaf sport teams competing abroad in European and World Deaf Sport Championships and select and manage the DeaflympicsGB Team, the official team that represents Great Britain at the Summer and Winter Deaflympics.

Under the partnership, UK Deaf Sport will receive airtime across Ocean’s digital out of home (DOOH) portfolio in the UK, with special content, highlights and sporting clips centred around competitions such as the Winter Deaflympics which opened in Turkey on March 2 2024 for 10 days.

Kevin Henry, Ocean’s head of content and sponsorship, said: “This partnership reinforces our commitment to the Olympic movement and complements the success of our long-term agreement with Team GB, which dates back to 2015, our gold partnership with ParalympicsGB and our commitment to Special Olympics GB.

“Becoming the only UK media partner to have agreements with all four organisations within the Olympic family allows Ocean as a business to deliver on its EDI objectives and help transform lives by shining a spotlight on children and adults of all abilities through the opportunity of sport.”

Joanne Cholerton, CEO at UK Deaf Sport, said: “UK Deaf Sport are thrilled to announce a partnership with Ocean Outdoor. There are 12 million deaf adults in the UK and they are one of the least active groups. This partnership will enable UK Deaf Sport to amplify our messages across the UK.

“By raising awareness of the Deaflympics, deaf sport and deaf athletes through this support from Ocean Outdoor, we aim to inspire more deaf children and adults to get active and feel the social, physical and mental health benefits this brings. This partnership and working with the rest of the Olympic family, will also help in our mission to get elite deaf athletes the support and recognition they deserve.”

To mark the launch of the partnership, deaf athletes - swimmer Nathan Young, triathlete Oliver Pritchard and footballer Claire Stancliffe - gathered at London’s Westfield Stratford City to mark the launch of UK Deaf Sport’s Fair Play for Deaf Athletes campaign. UK Deaf Sport is lobbying the Government to end discrimination against elite deaf athletes by funding and supporting them as they do Olympic and Paralympic athletes.