Although this is not the first time Croatians participated in GayGames events (there were individuals in previous 3 instances and also Bura soccer team in Chicago), it was by far the biggest representation so far. It included members of lesbian/feminist chorus group LeZbor (who made a lot of people impressed at their performances - me included, as new their humble start from few years ago), few key qSPORT members (unfortunately some were canceling participation few months in advance), few Croatians from diaspora living in Germany and an undisclosed group of volleyball players (spin off from qSPORT). Thanks to LeZbor's kraft skills they all got a hand made red-white checker colors on CRAVAT, which is a symbol originating from Napoleon's soldiers from Croatian...
All-in-all Croatian group was the biggest of South Eastern European country, with about 25 representatives - it was also bigger then number of Polish, Hungarian, Slovenian or Bulgarian representation. This was mainly due to outreach stipends that were awarded based on applications submitted year ago to organizers, rather then pro-active outreach in the region (that Cologne organizers originally committed to in their bid for GayGames). For this reason there was no opportunity for networking with new people and first time or fresh LGBTQ sport participants but rather chit chat with usual suspects - hugely disappointing, especially considering that from around 10.000 registered participants majority were coming from just handful of countries (Germany and USA by far the biggest, followed by French, Dutch and British).
In terms of success of performances and representation, qSPORT's member won a silver medal in swimming competition, while other achieved personal bests in very competitive disciplines. Vice-president and secretary of qSPORT also attended official and informal meetings and continued to network with officials of FGG and other present organizations. Opening COLOR party and Rotterdam stage included performances of KARIS WILDE as a guest performer as a result of qSPORT networking.
Read in full, with photos HERE.
No comments:
Post a Comment