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USA Swimming responds to local swimmer's plea

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Posted 8:38 PM 4/19/2012 : USA Swimming responds to local swimmer's plea

USA Swimming announced on Thursday that it will allow hand signals at the start of its races at this summer's Olympic trials, in order to assist deaf and hard-of-hearing swimmers.

Leading the charge to have hand signals put in place was Flowing Wells and University of Arizona graduate Marcus Titus, who is deaf.

Titus, one of the nation's top breaststrokers, received a letter from a USA Swimming official on Tuesday indicating that international rules would be used for the trials and those rules did not include the use of hand signals.

Titus quickly took action. On Wednesday he created a facebook page titled, "USA Swimming discriminates against deaf swimmer." The page instantly gained attention and traction, registering over 1,000 "likes" in a short period of time.

By Thursday morning USA Swimming responded as National Team Director Frank Busch, who was Titus' coach at Arizona, determined that hand signals would ultimately be permitted at the trials.

News 4 Tucson spoke with Titus on Thursday following the decision. Click on the video to see his response.

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