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Gay Games VIII in Project Q: Wesley Anderson’s second ‘tri’

We missed this series from Project Q Atlanta when it first appeared, but are pleased to share these stories of Atlantans in Cologne for Gay Games VIII:

Among the more than 9,000 LGBT athletes and artists competing in the Gay Games this week in Cologne are about two-dozen Atlantans, including runner Wesley Anderson.

The 32-year-old also plays softball with the Atlanta Venom in the Hotlanta Softball League and recently joined Front Runners Atlanta. We caught up with Anderson before he left for the Gay Games to discuss gay jocks and his plans to take part in the triathlon and half marathon.

Project Q Atlanta: What’s the most challenging part of your sport?
Anderson: The fact that the half marathon is the last day of the Gay Games. That means you have to eat well and not drink during the week of this amazing festival. That may be tough.

Keep reading HERE.

Games Cologne celebrates second anniversary of Gay Games VIII

Last night organizers of Games Cologne, the host committee for Gay Games VIII, celebrated the second anniversary of the 2010 event.

Thanks to them from the entire Gay Games family!

Photo Shamey Cramer, representing the FGG board of directors

Two years ago tonight!

31 August 2010 : Opening ceremony of Gay Games VIII

Today's the second anniversary of the opening of Gay Games VIII.Thigs is another opportunity to thank our hosts in Cologne for giving us an unforgettable experience!

Flashback: video report on Gay Games VIII sailing

It's in Dutch, but you'll get the picture!

7 July 2012 / "Ballroom Rules", Koelner Kino Naechte

(h/t Doerte Lange)

Samstag, 7. Juli 2012, 18:00h Filmpalette Köln
Ballroom Rules
AUS 2012 • 77 Min. • engl. OV • Regie: Nickolas Bird & Eleanor Sharpe

Im professionellen Paartanz herrscht strikte Heteronormativität; gleichgeschlechtliche Tanzpaare werden diskriminiert und bei Wettbewerben nicht zugelassen. Die Deutschland-Premiere BALLROOM RULES dokumentiert das Training schwul-lesbischer Tanzpaare aus Australien, einige davon Anfänger, andere echte Profis. Doch sie alle widmen sich mit großem Eifer und Leidenschaft ihren Choreographien, Kostümen, Rückschlägen – und alle haben einen Traum: bei den Gay Games im weit entfernten Köln Gold zu holen.


Präsentiert von: homochrom & Filmpalette, im Rahmen des ColognePride
Einzelticket: 7,- € / erm. 6,50 €
Reservierung: 0221-122112

A look back at Ford's sponsorship of Gay Games VIII

While we did write about the results of Ford employees at Gay Games VIII, we never actually provided any details about the sponsorship offered by Ford. From Queer Life:

Ford came out this past week in support of the Gay Games 2010 in Cologne, Germany.

6 vehicles, provided by Ford for the Gay Games VIII Cologne 2010, were handed over to the drivers this past week. This is only one component of the official partnership between the Ford factory Cologne and the organizers of the Gay Games.

Ford also sponsored 65 of its employees within the community-involvement-initiative to help as volunteers the Games. 6 vehicles were also provided, four Transits, a Focus as well as a Mondeo which will be used for transportation of athletes and volunteers. Furthermore, the parking lot at the Fuehlinger See in Cologne, owned by Ford, will be open to the public during the races on the lake.

Nearly 10.000 participants from over 70 nations have registered for the Gay Games this year. Covering 35 sports and 5 cultural events the event is hosted in a different world city every 4 years.

Ford Motor Company is the first car manufacturer to give its backing and support to the Gay Games.

Medal-winning table tennis players keeping fit

A video from Pink Pong, the lead promoters of Table Tennis at Gay Games VIII::

Practice at Paradise, in Sunnyside, Queens, June 14, 2012.

Battle between the two gold medalists from the Gay Games VIII in Cologne, Germany Lee Hao and Wolfgang Busch, who won the gold together in the Doubles Recreational Division. Team NY dominated the Recreational Division winning 8 medals total.

Also in the video is our Under 1750 ranking tournament winner and silver medalist from Cologne in the C Division Hai He, Most Improved Player of the year 2010 and 2011 Kevin Wallace, founding member Rodolfo Simons and Jeff Warren playing Lee. During practice everybody plays everybody, winning 2 out of 3 games, which gives the lower level players the opportunity to play better players.

Last day at TIP sports village

Sunday was the last full day at the Sports Village of the TIP Paris International Tournament. The day was focused on dancing, and opened with a screening of Australian documentary Ballroom Rules, which follows a group of same-sex dancers training for and competing at Gay Games VIII in Cologne, 2010.

Les Gais Musette continued the day with a series of open classes and dance sessions in the demonstration area.

FGG board members Marc Naimark and Sonia Abécassis had the pleasure of meeting Barbara and Adam from Eurogames 2011.

A 2010 profile of Rob Smitherman, sports director for Gay Games 9

Back in 2012, the Windy City Times did a great profile of Rob Smitherman, a sports manager for Gay Games VII in Chicago and for Gay Games VIII in Cologne. We're very happy that Rob is now the sports director for Gay Games 9, and particularly liked this quote in the 2010 article:

In the Gay Games and through gay sports in general, I found a more complete life. I hope that the Gay Games, and all the leagues and tournaments throughout the world can offer that to others. In many places we have 'won.' [In] the big cities of North America and western Europe we are at least tolerated if not accepted. But we have people coming from eastern Europe who cannot use their real names because they would face discrimination at home. We have countries of the world who consider being gay a criminal act punished by imprisonment or death. We have people in smaller towns in the U.S., Canada, Australia and western Europe who have never heard of the Gay Games and think they are alone in loving sports and athletics, and just happen to be gay. And we still have no out gay man, and very few open lesbians, playing in a major team sport throughout the world. Until we have equality throughout the world we need to offer gay sports, especially the Gay Games, to show that we are here, and we deserve to be treated fairly and without discrimination.

Read in full HERE.

Out to Swim tell their story for BT Storytellers program celebrating London 2012

The following story from London's Out to Swim was written as content for the BT Storytellers programme celebrating the London 2012 Olympics.


Our Greatest Team
In the first week of August 2010, a team of 116 gays and lesbians arrived in Cologne, Germany for the 8th Gay Games.


The Gay Games is the world's largest sporting and cultural event organised specifically for LGBT athletes. Established in San Francisco in 1982, the Gay Games were the brainchild of Tom Waddell, whose goals were to promote the spirit of inclusion and participation, as well as the pursuit of personal growth in a sporting event.

Here we were, 28 years later, marching into a massive stadium like proper athletes, 80s pop legend Taylor Dayne on stage belting out the theme song for the games, a crowd of people from around the world buzzing with excitement and anticipation of the competition ahead of us, the challenges that we face and the sweet dream of gold medals to prove that all of that training and hard work was worthwhile.

We were the team from Out To Swim, the UK's largest masters aquatics club for the LGBT community - a team of swimmers, water polo players, and synchronised swimmers in Cologne to show the world what we could do.

As one of the largest teams at the games, our presence at all of the aquatics events was undeniable - not only were we a force to be reckoned with in the pool, but you could always rely on plenty of vocal support from your team-mates, shouting encouragements (and the occasional bawdy chant) from the sidelines.

What made this team great was not just the medals (although there were plenty of those), it was the sense that we came away from Cologne as a stronger and more united team than when we arrived. By working as a team we pushed ourselves harder, performed better and celebrated more than ever before.

The 9th Gay Games will be held in Cleveland in the US in 2014. Once again we are going in force. Once again we will be great.

Amnesty International at Gay Games VIII in Cologne

(English below)

MERSI bei den Gay Games in Köln

Be part of it! – Das war das Motto der VIII. Gay Games, die dieses Jahr erstmals in Deutschland stattfanden. Auch wir von Mersi nahmen uns das zu Herzen und waren am Eröffnungssamstag (31.07.) mit einem Infostand in der Kölner Innenstadt präsent. In der Fußgängerzone zwischen Neumarkt und Rudolfplatz konnten wir eintauchen in die unbeschreibliche internationale Atmosphäre der queeren Sportwoche, sammelten Unterschriften für die Irak- und die Serbienpetition und ließen Solidaritätspostkarten für ugandische Menschenrechtsaktivist_innen unterzeichnen. Unterstützt wurden wir Mersi-Mitglieder aus Berlin und Köln von dem sehr engagierten Amnesty-Bezirksverband Köln. Bei einer Veranstaltung im Deutschen Sport- und Olympiamuseum am Rande der Ausstellung „Against the Rules“ sprachen wir mit Interessierten über die Herausforderungen der Menschenrechtsarbeit für Lesben, Schwule, Bisexuelle und Transgender. Wenn auch du aus dem Rheinland kommst und dich bei Mersi engagieren willst, bist du jederzeit willkommen.

koeln@mersi-amnesty.de

---

LGBT Human Rights Worldwide
When: Tuesday 08/03/2010
Location: Deutsches Sport & Olympia Museum
Free entrance

Every day all over this world, violations of Human Rights of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgender People (LGBT) are committed. These violations are very diverse and range from imprisonment, to torture and murder. Amnesty International has been working in this area for many years. At this event we hope to introduce YOU to our work. What are LGBT Human Rights? What is Amnesty International doing in the field? What can I do to support them? (The talk will be held in German.)

Beyond this event, Amnesty International was a guest at the Gay Games Village, where volunteers were in contact with the thousands of participants and visitors to Gay Games VIII.

Gay Games VIII in Project Q Atlanta: Chip Pecchio works the lane

We missed this series from Project Q Atlanta when it first appeared, but are pleased to share these stories of Atlantans in Cologne for Gay Games VIII:

Among the more than 9,000 LGBT athletes and artists who competed in the Gay Games last week in Cologne were about two-dozen Atlantans, including bowler Chip Pecchio.

The 37-year-old quarterbacks a team in the National Flag Football League of Atlanta and is a member of the Rainbow Match Point bowling league. Pecchio (photo) attended the Gay Games in bowling, and we caught up with him to discuss the competition before he left for Cologne.

Keep reading HERE.

Interview on Gay Games VIII DanceSport documentary

Melbourne's Joy FM's "Kiss My Arts" interviewed documentary filmmaker Nickolas Bird about his film, "Ballroom Rules," filmed at the Gay Games VIII DanceSport competition in Cologne.

More Kiss My Arts HERE.

Listen to the broadcast below:

Flashback to Gay Games VIII visual arts event: "Move It!"

"Move It!" was the theme of the visual arts event of Gay Games VIII. Cologne's  Wallraf-Richartz Museum hosted an exhibition devoted to movement in all its forms.

Here are a few images from the exhibition. You'll find more online HERE.

Flashback to Cologne: Report on medal-winning figure skater

From Los Angeles ABC news affiliate NewsNet5, a story we missed in 2010 (we did report on Frank HERE): 

COLOGNE, Germany - Local renowned figure skater and choreographer, Franklyn Singley, won gold and silver on Wednesday in Cologne, Germany at Gay Games VIII.Skating to Janis Joplin's "Summertime," Singley placed first in the solo freeskate event. His solo spotlight performance to Nat King Cole's "L-O-V-E" earned him a silver medal.

In 2006, Singley won the gold medal at Gay Games VII in Chicago.

Singley grew up training in his hometown of Cleveland and became a competitor in the singles and ice dancing divisions.



In 1989, Singley relocated to Los Angeles with partner Tiffani Tucker. The two represented the U.S. for five years at the national level and made history when they became the nation's first and only African-American ice dance team.

Singley also spent four years with Walt Disney's World on Ice and in 2002, he helped choreograph and perform in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the XIX Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

Singley ultimately hopes to be able to compete in the 2014 games, which will be in Cleveland. Cleveland won the bid for the Gay Games VIV in September of 2009, beating out both Boston and Washington D.C. in a tough bidding process.


Read more HERE.

Meet Leslie Becker, the 1500th fan of our Facebook page!

New Yorker Leslie Becker is our 1500th fan on Facebook (facebook.com/federationofgaygames). We are delighted to share a brief profile of Leslie, a Gay Games veteran.

I'm a musician with the Lesbian and Gay Big Apple Corps, and as part of the Lesbian and Gay Band Association, and Gay Games in Cleveland will mark my fourth games as a member of Team Band -- New York, Chicago and Cologne being the first three. I was the co-coordinator of Team Band's involvement at Gay Games VIII in Cologne, and I will again be on the leadership team for Gay Games 9 in Cleveland when Team Band will bring together 250 musicians from around the world to perform not only in the Cultural Festival, but as a part of Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

The world is a better place thanks to Dr. Tom Waddell and the Gay Games and Cultural Festival. I took the flame and passed it on -- and I believe that those who come after me will do the same!

We'll be sending Leslie a copy of Take the Flame to thank her for her contributions to the Gay Games movement. You too can "like" our page. Just click HERE.

"Gais Gay Games" DVD now available in general release

We're great fans here of Francoise Romand's charming documentary Gais Gay Games, filmed last summer during Gay Games VIII in Cologne.

Click HERE for an earlier post on this short film.

It is in French, English and German with German and English subtitles and is available via Amazon France: