Laura Douglas-Brown from the Georgia Voice in Atlanta reports on Team Atlanta's preparation for the Gay Games in Cologne."There won’t be as many athletes marching behind the Team Atlanta banner when Gay Games VIII opens in Cologne, Germany, but participants say the spirit of camaraderie and competition remains strong.
Some 160 athletes from Atlanta participated in the last Gay Games, held in Chicago in 2006. Thanks in large part to the longer distance — and therefore increased costs and vacation time requirements — only about 30 will make the trek to Germany for this year’s Games, which get underway July 31 and run through Aug. 7.
About half of the Georgians attending the Gay Games are members of the Atlanta Rainbow Trout. That includes the 11-member water polo team and about six other swimmers, according to Sean Fitzgerald, a Trout member and secretary of the Federation of Gay Games, the international organization that puts on the quadrennial competition and cultural showcase.
“This is really a worldwide event,” Fitzgerald says. “For the Rainbow Trout, we go to straight competitions all the time, and we are welcomed at those events and allowed to participate. In a lot of places in the world [gay athletes] don’t get that opportunity.”
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