Images of Ourselves: Gay Games artist Ross Watson publishes photography book

Martin Comte, SX News (Australia) discovers aA who's who of the contemporary gay world in the stunning new book by prolific Melbourne artist, Ross Watson.

"The recent publication of Untitled # Ross Watson coincides with the artist's return from the Gay Games in Cologne, where an exhibition of some of his works attracted a record attendance.

"This latest book complements the first: Overview: Ross Watson, and at last we have another splendid book celebrating the diversity and development of the artist.

"Mark Henderson, formerly of the J. Paul Getty Center in Los Angeles, says in the introduction to the book: 'Encountering the work of Ross Watson for the first time, one notices immediately the handsome, youthful men who play key roles in most of his compositions. Although not portraits in the traditional sense, Mr. Watson's paintings nevertheless depict actual living men ? professional models and athletes . . . But there is so much more to a Ross Watson painting than these fresh-faced beauties'."

Read full review HERE.

Melbourne medal winners

From Melbourne Community Voice:

Sharks get sweet scent of Cologne
The Glamourhead Sharks, Melbourne's GLBTI Swimming Squad, scooped the pool at the Gay Games in Cologne.

The team of 16 swimmers took eight gold medals, eight silver and five bronze medals, coming twelfth over all out of 118 clubs.

John Marriott was one of the stand-out swimmers, taking out gold and Gay Games records for each of his five individual swims.

Anke Kohfahl also achieved gold along with a Gay Games record for her 200 backstroke.

Anke also took the opportunity of being home in her native Germany to marry her partner, Mandy Gregory in her hometown of Cuxhaven.

James Cahill and Alan Godfrey brought home gold in the 50 Breaststroke and 200 Backstroke respectively.

And read more on the Glamourheads' performance in the Southern Star HERE.

Australia report

A report from Gay Games media partner the Sydney Star Observer:

Australia’s GLBT athletes shone at Gay Games VIII in Cologne, netting more than 200 medals in disciplines as diverse as wrestling and dance.

The weeklong event was hailed as the biggest sports and cultural festival in the world, attracting almost 10,000 participants from more than 70 countries. Among those were 365 Australian athletes who brought back an impressive swag of medals – 90 gold, 92 silver and 53 bronze.

Australia’s Cologne Gay Games representative Phillip Lischke said our athletes were warmly embraced by the 800,000 or so spectators who attended events, and exceeded expectations on the medal tally.

Some of our strongest performers include Steven Berveling, a three-time winner in cycling events, and John Nicholls, who also bagged a hat trick of gold medals in the diving.

As usual, most of our medals came from the pool and athletics track. Corey Buckman and John Marriot both scored five gold medals in swimming, as did Paul Skipper and Wayne Morgan in track and field events. Brendan Dwyer won the most gold, taking home six medals in track and field events.

The profile of the Australian team was further buoyed by the presence of Olympian Matthew Mitcham, who gave the athletes’ oath on behalf of all participants at the opening ceremony.

They also received support from Peter Tesch, the Australian ambassador to Germany, who attended the team reception and met athletes during the event.

For SSO photos of the Gay Games, click HERE.

Australian Ambassador at Gay Games VIII

Gay Games VIII Cologne 2010 welcomed several world leaders and official governement ambassadors. One important visitor was the Australian Ambassador to Germany. Read this story from the Sydney Star Observer.

On August 1, one day after the Opening Ceremony of Gay Games VIII Cologne, some 300 Australian athletes and their partners and friends mingled at the Australian Welcome Reception, held in the event venue (and former city monastery) Wolkenburg. The event, which was jointly being co-hosted by the Australian Ambassador to Germany, His Excellency Mr Peter Tesch and Team Sydney on behalf of all Australian city teams, showed impressively the biggest Australian contingent at International Games outside of Australia ever, reporting with 363 athletes and cultural participants an increase of 34% more compared to last Gay Games in Chicago 2006.

Peter Tesch, who stayed in Cologne for another day to visit some of the sports venues and follow his contingent in action, wished the Australian participants during his speech all his best for their competitions and underlined the importance of the Gay Games to break down on stereotypes and address missing GLBT rights throughout the globe.

Whether it was his official support or the intense upfront training of his Australian athletes, the Australian team managed to bring home 90 gold, 92 silver and 53 bronze medals in total as access baggage.

Photo courtesy: http://www.starobserver.com.au/

Live from Cologne - Belgium wins first track and field gold, in men's 5000 metre

Between softball games I stopped over at the track and field stadium to check out some of the races. When I arrived, they had just started what turned out to be a very exciting 5000 metre race.

In the end, a Belgian runner took gold, that country's first track & field gold medal at the Gay Games here in Cologne. An Australian took silver and a Dutchman took bronze. I grabbed a photo of the winner and the three on the podium - I'll edit this post later once I find out the names.

The next medal ceremony was for a race I'd missed but apparently was even closer. Won by a man from New Zealand, the silver went to an Australian runner and the bronze to a man from Switzerland.

After the medal ceremony the on-track announcer had the Kiwi and Aussie talk a bit about their rivalry. They both met for the first time at the Sydney 2002 Gay Games, competing against each other in 3 or 4 races there and also in Chicago 2006. This was the 3rd race between the two men at these Gay Games and they still have the 3000 metre run to go. They've had a great rivalry with the New Zealand man winning more races in Sydney, the Australian winning more races in Chicago, and so far they've gone gold/silver in each of their first 3 races (Kiwi winning 2 gold and a silver and the Australian winning 1 gold and 2 silver). What a great story.

Live from Cologne - Matthew Mitcham apparently had a good time

Someone captured this video of Australian Olympic Gold Medal Diver Matthew Mitcham enjoying the Gay Games Cologne Opening Ceremony.

Welcome to Cologne, The Flying Bats of Australia

Look who we found at the Frankfurt's airport train station - four members of The Flying Bats women's soccer team from Australia eager to show their pink Aussie flag.

Photo by Kevin Boyer

Aussie ambassadors ready for Gay Games

From Nick Bond of Sydney Star Observer (a Gay Games media sponsor):

"GLBTI athletes from around Australia will this week head to the Cologne Gay Games, to be held in Germany from July 31 to August 7.

"Heading to Cologne with our queer contingent will be two more widely known athletes ­— Olympic diving champion Matthew Mitcham and retired Olympic cycling medalist Michelle Ferris. Both are Australian ambassadors for the Games, and will be on hand at various functions and events as part of their ambassadorial duties."

Read the full article HERE

Australian Freezone eyes gold in Cologne

From the Sydney Star Observer (Gay Games Cologne media partner).

To ensure they have the best chance of gold possible at the Gay Games Sydney’s Freezone volleyball side, sponsored by the Sydney Star Observer, held a last-minute fundraiser on Monday night.

The entertainment was as sexy as the players and we are assured the Freezone team is in tip-top form for when the games open in less than two weeks.

Check out the online photo gallery from the night HERE.

The Sydney Star Observer will be providing regular updates from Cologne on their website at http://www.starobserver.com.au/