Natalia Deeva of Belarus broke three world records and was titled as “Deaf Sportswoman of the Year.”

The International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD) named Natalia Deeva the "Deaf Sportswoman of the Year." Deeva was the three-time gold medalist at the World Deaf Swimming Championships Taipei Taiwan 2007 and broke three world records on the same day. Volodymyr Natalchuk, the winner of 4 gold, 3 silver, and 1 bronze at the same Game, ran the second for "Deaf Sportsman of the Year," losing to Rajeev Bagga, a British Badminton athlete.  

1 male and 3 female athletes of the 2007 World Deaf Swimming Championships in Taipei were included in ICSD’s announced Top 10 finalists for the "2007 WIDEX Sportsman and Sportswomen Award." In addition to Natalia Deeva and Volodymyr Natalchuk, Swedish Anna Polivanchuk ranked the third for the "Deaf Sportswoman of the Year," and Ganna Lytvynenko from Ukraine was the 7th.

Deeva was born on December 29, 1967 in Belarus. She won 3 gold at 2007 World Deaf Swimming Championships in Taipei and broke three world records by 4 times, her records were:

50m Breaststroke (heat): 34.97 seconds.
50m Breaststroke (final): 34.91 seconds.
4*100 individual medley: 4:38.00
100m Backstroke: 1:17.70

British born Bagga won the men’s single title at the 2007 World Deaf Badminton Championship in Germany. Since 1989, he has never lost any prominent international matches. He was also well known for good sportsmanship: always accepting referees' judgments, regardless of the accuracy.