THE BLIND BREAK NEW GROUP

In the latest Paralympic Games in Atlanta, a total of 105 world athletics records were broken, of which 15 corresponded to the Blind Federation - 10 in men's and 5 in women's events. As for the Paralympic records, the number rose to 160, 40 of which were achieved by IBSA - 27 men's and 13 women's records. The most outstanding blind athletes were the Briton ROBERT MATHEWS and the Spaniard PURIFICACIóN SANTAMARTA.

The pool in the GEORGIA TECH CENTER witnessed the breaking of 107 world and 113 Paralympic records. Those corresponding to the Blind Federation numbered 18 world records, 10 men's and 8 women's, and 21 Paralympic records, 11 men's and 10 women's. The performances of the Austrian BUGARIN and the German girl HOPF were truly brilliant. The latter set 6 new world records in the B3 category, 4 in individual events and 2 as part of the German team.

We shall now illustrate the relation of OLYMPIC/PARALYMPIC records for comparison purposes.

Javier Merchán. B.S.I. Editorial Staff

2nd. GRAND GOALBALL FESTIVAL IN IRAN

A. BAGHESTANI. Secretary General of IRISFED

October 14th was declared "White Stick Day" in IRAN. In celebration of this event, of great importance in this Islamic country due to the fact that most of the disabled persons were victims of the war, the second "Grand Goalball Festival" was held between the 13th and 17th of October with the participation of 51 teams.

IBSA's Assistant Technical Officer, PAU SERRACANTA, was present throughout the competition and was thus able to corroborate, in situ, the high standard of the participants.

The team that finally came away with the gold medal was TEHERAN NIA. Both the level of organization and the standard of play were excellent.

One of the principal objectives of this championship was to develop and promote sports for the blind throughout Iran.

SERGE QUERARD

Our colleague SERGE QUERARD, President of Tandem Cycling Subcommittee, suddenly passed away in Paris last April. From these pages, we want to express our deepest sorrow to his friends and family for this sad loss that directly affects to our association.

AWARDS FOR OUR PUBLICITY

B.S.I. Editorial Staff

IBSA's image-creation campaigns are starting to receive international recognition. The latest edition of the Latin American Publicity Festival (FIAP) awarded the GOLD FIAP '96, in the Social Services section, to our global promotion campaign. Also deserving merit, this time a SILVER FIAP, was our work in the graphic design category, as well as the BRONZE in the television section. Now, that really is an Federation with a GOOD IMAGE.

AWARDS AND CONGRATULATIONS

B.S.I. Editorial Staff

We wish to use this space to congratulate our colleague DAUD AMIN on the award he received recently, the "TUN HUSSEIN OMN'S", for his 20 years of professional dedication as leader of sports for the blind in MALAYSIA.

Moreover, the INTERNATIONAL ROTARY CLUB has honoured IBSA through the decoration of its president, ENRIQUE SANZ JIMÉNEZ, for his work dedicated to sports for the disabled, in general, and for the blind and visually impaired, in particular. B.S.I. Editorial Staff

GOLD MEDAL FOR SAMARANCH

B.S.I. Editorial Staff

Mr Juan Antonio Samaranch, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has been awarded the gold medal of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in recognition of the support he has consistently offered to this disabled sports organization throughout the years he has chaired the maximum international sports body. The economic collaboration of the IOC has made possible, for example, the participation of athletes from nearly 70 countries of the so-called "third world" in the Atlanta '96 Paralympic Games

SPAIN: THE ONCE BACKS SPORT

B.S.I. Editorial Staff

The Spanish National Organization for the Blind (ONCE) has produced another initiative that confirms its fraternity with the sporting world, specifically with the Olympic and Paralympic Movement. The act in question is the dedication on its lottery "Coupon" for November 11th of this year, marking the hundredth anniversary of the modern Olympic era, with the reproduction of a classic image and the figure of the current President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Juan Antonio Samaranch.

 The ONCE "Coupon" is a daily lottery, extremely popular in Spain, which generates the necessary economic resources for this organization to carry out its tremendous social work in the fields of education, rehabilitation, labour promotion, etc. for the blind and visually impaired, as well as the complementary work which evidences the solidarity shown to other disability groups and the visually impaired in many developing countries, especially in Latin America.

The aim of this dedication on the "Coupon" of November 11th, to the hundred years of modern Olympics, is to contribute towards putting across the Olympic ideals and image in this country. IBSA, as Paralympic federation incorporated in this movement, wishes to congratulate the ONCE on this worthy initiative.

NO FRONTIERS

B.S.I. Editorial Staff

IBSA has, in recent years, received international recognition of its administrative prowess from two important sources. The first of these was in the General Assembly of the European Blind Union (EBU), held in Sicily (Italy). This meeting saw John Wall elected President and served as a showcase for the extraordinary organizational work of Tomasso Danielli, with the IBSA President, Enrique Sanz, being invited to attend. From this maximum authority representing the interests of the blind in Europe, he received wholehearted support for the work IBSA is carrying out in the sporting field and, more specifically, with regard to its current stance within the context of the IPC.

In addition, Sanz - accompanied by IBSA's Records Keeper, the Austrian Franz Haslinger - will be going, at the beginning of December, to the traditional Sports and Cultural Winter Festival in Tiumen (Siberia), invited by the President of the Russian Federation for the Blind (VOS), Alexandre Neumyvakin, and the head of the Russian Foundation for the Rehabilitation and Employment of the Disabled, Alexandre Tarabykin. He will take advantage of the opportunity to make a profound analysis of the needs of the blind athletes in the East European countries and investigate the possibility of incorporating them into the sports promotional work of IBSA.

PUERTO RICO
LATIN AMERICAN
BLIND CHESS TOURNAMENT

Germán Pérez Rodríguez. President of PRIBSA.

The development of sports for the blind in Latin America is making great strides, as is clearly evidenced by the latest athletics events. Puerto Rico has made every effort to form part of this process and, as a result, the first Latin American Chess Tournament for the Blind and Visually Impaired was held last October, proving most successful. Apart from the competition itself, in which 8 players from 5 countries participated, with the Columbian player SAULO TORRES finally winning with seven points, it was agreed to institutionalize the celebration of this event every two years, the second edition to be held in Panama (1997) and the third in Argentina (1999).

In addition, the National Federation of "Baseball with Sound", from the United States, organized a friendly match against the players of PRIBSA, the International Blind Sports Federation there, and won by a final score of 15-8.