By Amy Pollock
A BALLYHALBERT woman is advocating for greater representation of deaf athletes as she prepares to compete at the upcoming Deaflympics in Tokyo, Japan.
Nicola Hutchinson (43) is the only athlete from Northern Ireland to be selected for the 100-strong team to represent Great Britain at the major multi-sport competition for deaf athletes, a position which she hopes will raise awareness to empower future generations.
The Deaflympics, first held in 1924, is the second oldest multi-sport event in the world, preceded only by the Olympic Games.
The 2025 competition begins on Saturday, November 15. The event uses visual signals instead of auditory cues, such as using flags for referees instead of whistles. To qualify, athletes must have a hearing loss of at least 55 dB (decibels hearing level) in their better ear, and hearing aids are not permitted to ensure fair competition.
There is no classification for deafness at the Paralympic Games, making the Deaflympics the flagship elite-level international sporting event for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.
Following countless complex ear surgeries from a young age, including a procedure to remove rotting bones from her left ear and having a bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) fitted, Nicola’s hearing continued to deteriorate and issues from a second BAHA operation in December 2024 rendered her entirely deaf.
Nicola, who has always been a keen swimmer and competed in multiple international events, tried her best to balance her passion for the pool with her ear complications and career in cardiac physiology.
Explaining how her condition impacts her, Nicola said: “I couldn’t, and still can’t, get my ears wet.
“The holes in my ear drums are so large that water goes straight through and gets trapped in the inner ear. It is painful to tumble, dive and push off underwater due to sensitivity to pressure changes, and most days, it is painful to turn my head to breathe.
“My snorkel was, and still is, my best friend. I am renowned for having a ‘bad’ start because I cannot go deep underwater. And I struggle with perception of depth due to my issues with pressure.”
Unable to train full-time due to different commitments and complications, Nicola stepped away from the sport for 17 years, until an old swim coach convinced her to go back to swimming to help her ‘deal with life’.
With her busy schedule including travelling to Dublin every day and raising two young children, Nicola began training alongside members of the public at Bangor Aurora Leisure Centre.
After hitting some lifetime personal bests, her coach, Peter Hill of Larne Swimming Club, nominated her for the Deaflympics.
“I didn’t know deaf sport existed. My initial response was negative – it isn’t the real Olympics. “My coach reminded me that I need to see things as an opportunity, not a door closing, and it has caused me to become quite passionate about deaf sport,” she said.
Nicola highlighted the several struggles faced by deaf athletes in today’s society. “When I race, I rely on a flashing light strobe to know when the starting gun has gone.
“Sometimes there is no strobe. Sometimes the strobe does not stretch the distance to the lane that I’ve been allocated. I cannot hear the stewards checking the entries for the race. I cannot hear the whistle to get on the block, and I cannot hear the whistle to stand down off the block when there are technical issues.”
Seeing this disparity first-hand, Nicola is using her platform to champion for greater inclusion for deaf athletes. “The Deaflympics, and deaf athletes, receive no funding from the UK government. Ironically, we are not part of the Paralympics.
“[The Deaflympics] is older than the Paralympics and the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympics. With the games in Tokyo, all athletes are being asked to raise close to £5,000 to fund themselves. We, and the supporting coaches and team, must purchase our own team kit for the privilege of representing our country at a major games, and there is no celebration for the medal winners on their return,” she said.
The issue recently saw MPs being warned over the ‘shameful’ lack of funding for GB athletes at the Deaflympics, with campaigners highlighting that while UK Sport will invest £330m of government and national lottery funding into British Olympic and Paralympic sport over the Los Angeles 2028 cycle, the GB team for the Deaflympics in Tokyo are having to raise most of the £450,000 costs themselves.
Nicola said that for her, going to Tokyo gives her the opportunity to raise the profile for deaf sports and encourage younger athletes. “Going to Tokyo, for me, was never in my game plan. For me it was, and continues to be, about trying to face my demons. Trying to find peace, acceptance and realise just how good I was, and how good I may still be.
”Tokyo, I hope, will give me the opportunity to feel that I belong. Somewhere. That I am understood, and that being different does not mean being less.
“I want to show my children that you can still dream. That I may be on average, 20 years older than the other participants, but am on a par with them. That I’m likely the only mum competing. That I am not out of place, and even if I feel it, that it shouldn’t stop me dreaming.
“I hope to teach them that life is full of setbacks, that your road to success will rarely be straight, but that success is not a result of a dream but a result of hard work. That you can dare to dream, whatever your age. And that your path may lead to other opportunities to the one you had originally set out.”
Those interested in supporting Nicola can donate to her GoFundMe page via www.gofundme.com/f/no-risk-no-story-the-deaf-olympics-tokyo-2025
