Chris Ratcliffe - Chef de Mission

As the Chef de Mission, Chris is responsible for the Great Britain Deaflympic team which involves providing guidance and leadership. He has been involved in deaf sports for many years as a competitor.

Chris currently works as the Deputy Director of Projects and Development for the National Deaf Children's Society. Was a competitor at the 1985 World Games for the Deaf held at Los Angeles.






Medal success for GB at Deaflympics
Lee Taylor - 17/01/2005


Team GB
Photo/GB Deaflympics
The 20th Deaflympics came to a conclusion in Melbourne yesterday, after 12 days of intense competition. The GB squad finished with an overall medal haul of 17, including 5 gold, 6 silver and 6 bronze.

This left Great Britain sitting 10th in the final table - which was topped by the Ukraine, with Russia and South Africa second and third respectively - to match the finishing position of Britain’s Olympians in Athens last year.

There was gold for the men’s football team as they defeated Iran 2-1in the final. Top spot was also achieved with a 100% record, after the squad won all 6 of their matches. The women’s team were also successful winning bronze after victory over Denmark.

In track and field, Joanne Davison became Britain’s first gold medallist when she was victorious in the women’s hammer with a throw of 41.60m. Lauren Peffers came close to emulating Kelly Holmes, when she took gold in the women’s 800m with a winning time of 2.14.90, to add to the silver she took in the 1500m behind Russia’s Nelli Erofeeva.

Lauren Newton had the best possible start to her 2005 as she took both the 50m and 100m breaststroke in the pool- finishing with two of the five swimming medals won by Britain’s women, as Sarah McCrea collected silver behind Newton in both Breaststroke distances and Lindsay Cummings finished second in the 400m individual relay.

There was also significant success on the tennis court as Anthony Sinclair won silver in the men’s singles, and also picked up bronze in the men’s doubles with Darren O’ Donnell. There were also bronze medals in both the women’s doubles - Catherine Graham and Sharon Templeman and the mixed doubles - Alex Simmons and Daniel Tunstall.

Britain’s other medals went to Candy Hawkins, who capped a memorable games by winning bronze in both the women’s 800m and 1500m to add to the honour of carrying the flag for the GB squad at the opening ceremony, and also to Ray Lay who took home a silver medal in the men’s all events in tenpin bowling.

Craig Crowley, Chair of UK Deaf Sport, said "The GB Deaflympic squad’s morale has been phenomenal and our chef de mission, Chris Ratcliffe, and his Deaflympic working party members all deserve every accolade for the well prepared squad they have assembled together. As a team they have emerged as a prodigious talent and showed they could compete at the highest level. Everyone in the squad has been truly professional and this is now their 'finest hour’!"


Chris Ratcliffe
I was born in Huddersfi eld, I have an older sister
and am the only deaf person in my family.
Due to my father’s job, my early years involved
a lot of travelling. We lived in Lancashire for a
while, then Sydney (Australia), before settling in
the Cotswolds, where my parents still live today.
I always felt lucky that by the age of 8 I had
travelled extensively and had fl own around the
world, quite a big feat in the 70s!
I was educated in hearing schools at primary
level before going onto Mary Hare. When I left
there, I had a gap year and worked voluntarily
for FYD organising sports and leadership
programmes for young deaf and hearing people.
Deciding to become a PE Teacher, my training
began at St Paul’s and St Mary’s College in
Cheltenham. After a year I realised I no longer
had ambitions to become a teacher and worked
for a year with Endsleigh Insurance before going
onto Sheffi eld City University to complete a BA
(Hons) in Recreation Management.
After graduating in 1991, I moved to London and
worked in Southwark as a Sports Development
Offi cer. I stayed in that fi eld until 1997 ending up
as the Recreation Manager for London Borough
of Sutton.
Moving on from there, I began my career in
the voluntary sector and worked for the BDA
before moving on to the RNID. In 2003 I was
appointed to the post of Deputy
Director for NDCS with a
remit to follow through the
merger between NDCS
and FYD. In July 2006
I was became Director
for NDCS Scotland and
moved to Glasgow.
Moving to Scotland
was an easy
decision to make.
My sister lives
in Glasgow and
Barbara my wife is
Scottish. Having
got married last
May, both of us
were keen to
move to Scotland.
We are now busy
renovating our traditional fl at in the West End,
very diffi cult when there is the temptation to go
out all the time in the West End!
An important part of my life has been sport. I
have been fortunate to represent GB Deaf in
swimming and water polo and I competed in the
World Deaf Games (now called the Deafl ympics)
in 1985. I also played a lot of football in my early
years before taking up rugby at 23. I have been
lucky enough to play rugby at a high level and
was a member of the Welsh Deaf Team that
won the fi rst ever Deaf Rugby World Cup held in
Auckland in 2002. I also played to county level
for my local hearing club winning the Surrey
Senior County Cup in 1999. In spite of retiring
several times, I am now trying my luck with
Glasgow GHK although am very aware my days
of playing rugby are numbered! I was also lucky
enough to be the Chef de Mission for the GB
Deafl ympic Team that competed in Melbourne
in 2005. It was an honour to be part of one of
the best GB Teams ever with a number of our
Scottish Athletes winning medals.
I am excited about the future in Scotland both
personally and professionally. In partnership with
my colleagues, I sincerely hope that I can make
a difference to the
lives of deaf children
and their parents. I am
grateful to everyone
for making me feel so
welcome since I moved
here.
On a personal note
I hope to do some
cookery courses once
the fl at renovations
have been completed!

This article was originally posted on 14-Jun-2007, 19:27 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 14-Jun-2007, 19:42.