Games crowd pleaser blind and deaf

One of the crowd favourites at the sixteenth World Games for the Deaf has been the blind and deaf wrestler from Canada, Pier Morten.

Morten, aged 29, took the bronze medal in the 62kg Greco-Roman style event and came sixth in the 62kg freestyle event.

Although disadvantaged by not being able to see his opponents, Morten fights tenaciously and reacts speedily to holds applied on him.

A coach of four of the five Canadian wrestlers at the games, Mr Michel Cote, said Morten was like a computer in competition.

“To know what he knows without seeing and hearing shows he is a very intelligent, smart person — he has a sense of the things that are going on.”

Morten, whose wife Shelley has accompanied him to the Games, is at his third World Games for the Deaf.

He has been wrestling since he was 15 and also competes in judo competitions, said Mr Cote.

“He goes to blind tournaments in judo and wrestling. Last year he went to Seoul for the paralympics in judo.”

Morten has won several medals in wrestling in competitions with the hearing in Canada.

Wrestlers are required to start bouts with Morten hand to hand and keep in contact with him, said Mr Cote.

“If the wrestler backs off then the referee stops the match and starts again. All the wrestlers respect that.

“It’s scary to wrestle somebody like Pier — once you start the match he is somebody else.”

Morten understands about three different sign languages, said Mr Cote.

“We sign all the alphabet to him — his touch is so sensitive, he’s used to it.”

Canada’s other wrestlers have not done as well as Morten in the games, although they had done better than expected, said Mr Cote.

The other four competitors, all provincial champions in Canada, are only 17 and 18 years old and have had no experience in international wrestling, he said.

One finished fourth in his class and another fifth.

“It’s not bad for their first time. The other guys are tough and experienced and they know what to do.

“Our wrestlers have talent and they will remember their experience here. They will be at the next games in Bulgaria and will have a shot at the medals there.”

Photo caption: A Canadian wrestler, Pier Morten, who is blind as well as deaf, is given instructions by his coach, Marty Willigan, between rounds in his bout with the Russian wrestler, Valeri Karibov. Morten, who won the bronze medal in the 62kg Greco-Roman style, lost to Karibov in the 62kg freestyle event.