Russia will host the third Olympics in a row

Being a host to the upcoming Deaflympics 2015, the Russian Federation has now made new history of being a three time Olympics host with respect to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Games. Deaflympics is worldwide sports competition for deaf athletes with the equal status as the Olympics and Paralympic Games and also held once every four years. In the global sports movement for deaf athletes, the Russian athletes have taken part in this since 1957 and is one of the leaders of the unofficial team standings. The 18th Winter Deaflympics will be held from 28 March to 5 April with five different sports and 33 (thirty-three) sets of medals will be awarded. Competitive events includes snowboarding, cross country skiing, curling, ice hockey and alpine skiing (slalom discipline) and will be held at the sports facilities of the Khanty-Mansiysk. Complex "Arena Ugra" Ice Palace, Khvoyny Urman Ski Resort, Center of Winter Sports are the venues used for the 18th Winter Deaflympics, along with the ski center, Metallurg-Magnitogorsk, as the main venue for alpine skiing at Magnitogorsk in the Chelyabinsk region. To date, 449 deaf athletes from 27 countries have registered for the 18th Winter Deaflympics. Listed countries are: Armenia, Austria, Hungary, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Kazakhstan, Canada, China, Mongolia, Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Unites States of America (USA), Turkey, Ukraine, Finland, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Estonia and Japan. The most "summer" of the countries represented at the Winter Games is Turkey with six Turkish athletes competiting for medals in the cross-country skiing, alpine skiing and snowboarding. The most popular sport is hockey with six teams participating - USA, Sweden, Kazakhstan, Finland, Canada and Russia with 145 participants.