Games lift off with warm reception
THE GAY GAMES
Games lift off with warm reception
From rowing to tennis, athletes cope with heat and a few protesters
By Josh Noel and Jeff Long
Copyright by The Chicago Tribune
Published July 17, 2006
The divers dived, the rowers rowed and the tennis players traded searing ground strokes Sunday.
If the protesters hadn't protested, the seventh Gay Games would have looked like any other athletic competition on its first full day.
There were barely any rainbow flags.
In oven like temperatures, hundreds of athletes fanned across Chicago and the suburbs to compete in 14 events, including bowling on the North Side, swimming on the South Side and ice hockey in Lincolnwood.
In Crystal Lake, the scene of an emotional debate this year about whether the Gay Games should stage its one-day rowing competition in the conservative northwest suburb, a handful of protesters decried homosexuality. But they were vastly outnumbered by athletes and their supporters.
Several competitors were felled by a heat index approaching 100 degrees. At least two people were taken to local hospitals with injuries not believed to be serious.
Staged every four years, nearly 12,000 people, about 5 percent of whom are heterosexual, are registered at these Gay Games to compete in 30 sports. Although mostly American, athletes have traveled from 65 nations, including Papua New Guinea, Botswana and Croatia.
At events where men held hands with men and women with women, crowds ranged from a small smattering to several hundred, and the competition was serious.
The competitive spirit was clear when gay British powerlifter Chris Morgan came roaring--literally--toward the weight bench as he prepared to lift nearly 259 pounds at Northwestern University's McGaw Memorial Hall. With a silent crowd of about 100 watching, the 2002 Gay Games gold medal winner grunted as he pushed the weight into the air. But a violation led judges to call it a "no lift."
"I'm having a bad day at the office," Morgan said with a smirk.
It was a better day for Kathleen Rose Winter, 49, who lives in Andersonville. She hoisted herself from a wheelchair to the weight bench before lifting 66 pounds with shaking arms.
After a huge ovation, she said the Gay Games offered support she rarely encountered at another Olympic-style event, the Paralympics, which she called "mean-spirited, competitive and cliquish."
"This is competitive, but not with a mean streak to it," Winter said. "The athletes here are supportive of each other. I know it sounds corny, but it's loving in a brotherly and sisterly sort of way."
Among the larger crowds to turn out was at Crystal Lake's rowing competition, where Park District officials estimated an audience of 650. Spectators were joined by about a dozen protesters who stood in a designated demonstration zone a few blocks away and preached a message of "hate the sin but love the sinner."
There was little interaction between spectators and protesters, and police said there were no arrests or altercations.
Crystal Lake became a symbol of the controversy that can follow the Gay Games when the city's Park District board voted in March against hosting the event by deadlocking with a 2-2 vote. A fifth board member later broke the tie in favor of hosting the event, but the storm never completely abated.
Even so, participants said the controversy had no effect on Sunday.
"I totally forgot about it until we got here and I saw the protesters," said Cindy Poe, the only lesbian competing as part of the Mendota Rowing Club in Madison, Wis. "My attitude is, I'm going to do my thing and let them do theirs."
In fact, the athletes said the cheers they heard in Crystal Lake were louder than those at other competitions. They came at the start of races, the end and even as rowers hauled their craft onto the shore.
"I came here to let [protesters] know I have every right to be here," said one of the fans, Sandra Davidson of Chicago. "And to be seen. We made a point to come to this event because of the controversy."
Julie Billimack, a married mother of two who lives across the lake in the Village of Lakewood, carried a sign with the words, "Protest War, not Love."
"I'm raising my children in this community," she said. "I want my children to be raised in a community that's open and loving and accepting of everyone. We're in big trouble in this world. Are we really going to focus on consenting adults who love each other?"
At other competitions, it was impossible to tell they were even a part of the Gay Games.
At the over-40 diving competition, for example, about 10 men and one woman gracefully twisted themselves into ambitious shapes before plunging into the pool at Northwestern's Norris Aquatics Center. But even when there were disasters resulting in something akin to a cannonball, a rapt audience of about 200 politely cheered.
In the crowd were two men who had both taken the week off of work to volunteer at the Games for two days and attend as many events as they could.
"I've never seen anything like this," said Ben Thompson, 24, a University of Chicago student who lives with his boyfriend in the Boystown section of Chicago. "It's like a giant weeklong sports party. We're trying to pack in as much as we can."
At Northwestern University's purple tennis courts, finding any corner of shade was the priority. One competitor fainted there from the heat, but was treated with fluids and a cold compress and didn't require further treatment, officials said.
After losing his singles match in the morning, John Hunter, 32, of Portland, Ore., munched on a sandwich while waiting for his doubles match in the afternoon with his partner. Many of the players knew each other from the gay tennis circuit, he said, which contributed to an affable environment.
"It's definitely more friendly out here, and there is more of a social aspect," he said. "But it'll get more competitive as it goes on, and you'll see more anger. That's just tennis."
Gay Games spokesman Kevin Boyer said four people were taken by ambulance from Gay Games events Sunday.
Two were heat-related: a tennis player in Oak Park and a person involved in the cheerleading competition at Millennium Park were taken to hospitals, he said. Two others were taken to hospitals for non-heat related injuries.
Boyer did not have further details.
----------
jbnoel@tribune.com
jjlong@tribune.com
Games lift off with warm reception
From rowing to tennis, athletes cope with heat and a few protesters
By Josh Noel and Jeff Long
Copyright by The Chicago Tribune
Published July 17, 2006
The divers dived, the rowers rowed and the tennis players traded searing ground strokes Sunday.
If the protesters hadn't protested, the seventh Gay Games would have looked like any other athletic competition on its first full day.
There were barely any rainbow flags.
In oven like temperatures, hundreds of athletes fanned across Chicago and the suburbs to compete in 14 events, including bowling on the North Side, swimming on the South Side and ice hockey in Lincolnwood.
In Crystal Lake, the scene of an emotional debate this year about whether the Gay Games should stage its one-day rowing competition in the conservative northwest suburb, a handful of protesters decried homosexuality. But they were vastly outnumbered by athletes and their supporters.
Several competitors were felled by a heat index approaching 100 degrees. At least two people were taken to local hospitals with injuries not believed to be serious.
Staged every four years, nearly 12,000 people, about 5 percent of whom are heterosexual, are registered at these Gay Games to compete in 30 sports. Although mostly American, athletes have traveled from 65 nations, including Papua New Guinea, Botswana and Croatia.
At events where men held hands with men and women with women, crowds ranged from a small smattering to several hundred, and the competition was serious.
The competitive spirit was clear when gay British powerlifter Chris Morgan came roaring--literally--toward the weight bench as he prepared to lift nearly 259 pounds at Northwestern University's McGaw Memorial Hall. With a silent crowd of about 100 watching, the 2002 Gay Games gold medal winner grunted as he pushed the weight into the air. But a violation led judges to call it a "no lift."
"I'm having a bad day at the office," Morgan said with a smirk.
It was a better day for Kathleen Rose Winter, 49, who lives in Andersonville. She hoisted herself from a wheelchair to the weight bench before lifting 66 pounds with shaking arms.
After a huge ovation, she said the Gay Games offered support she rarely encountered at another Olympic-style event, the Paralympics, which she called "mean-spirited, competitive and cliquish."
"This is competitive, but not with a mean streak to it," Winter said. "The athletes here are supportive of each other. I know it sounds corny, but it's loving in a brotherly and sisterly sort of way."
Among the larger crowds to turn out was at Crystal Lake's rowing competition, where Park District officials estimated an audience of 650. Spectators were joined by about a dozen protesters who stood in a designated demonstration zone a few blocks away and preached a message of "hate the sin but love the sinner."
There was little interaction between spectators and protesters, and police said there were no arrests or altercations.
Crystal Lake became a symbol of the controversy that can follow the Gay Games when the city's Park District board voted in March against hosting the event by deadlocking with a 2-2 vote. A fifth board member later broke the tie in favor of hosting the event, but the storm never completely abated.
Even so, participants said the controversy had no effect on Sunday.
"I totally forgot about it until we got here and I saw the protesters," said Cindy Poe, the only lesbian competing as part of the Mendota Rowing Club in Madison, Wis. "My attitude is, I'm going to do my thing and let them do theirs."
In fact, the athletes said the cheers they heard in Crystal Lake were louder than those at other competitions. They came at the start of races, the end and even as rowers hauled their craft onto the shore.
"I came here to let [protesters] know I have every right to be here," said one of the fans, Sandra Davidson of Chicago. "And to be seen. We made a point to come to this event because of the controversy."
Julie Billimack, a married mother of two who lives across the lake in the Village of Lakewood, carried a sign with the words, "Protest War, not Love."
"I'm raising my children in this community," she said. "I want my children to be raised in a community that's open and loving and accepting of everyone. We're in big trouble in this world. Are we really going to focus on consenting adults who love each other?"
At other competitions, it was impossible to tell they were even a part of the Gay Games.
At the over-40 diving competition, for example, about 10 men and one woman gracefully twisted themselves into ambitious shapes before plunging into the pool at Northwestern's Norris Aquatics Center. But even when there were disasters resulting in something akin to a cannonball, a rapt audience of about 200 politely cheered.
In the crowd were two men who had both taken the week off of work to volunteer at the Games for two days and attend as many events as they could.
"I've never seen anything like this," said Ben Thompson, 24, a University of Chicago student who lives with his boyfriend in the Boystown section of Chicago. "It's like a giant weeklong sports party. We're trying to pack in as much as we can."
At Northwestern University's purple tennis courts, finding any corner of shade was the priority. One competitor fainted there from the heat, but was treated with fluids and a cold compress and didn't require further treatment, officials said.
After losing his singles match in the morning, John Hunter, 32, of Portland, Ore., munched on a sandwich while waiting for his doubles match in the afternoon with his partner. Many of the players knew each other from the gay tennis circuit, he said, which contributed to an affable environment.
"It's definitely more friendly out here, and there is more of a social aspect," he said. "But it'll get more competitive as it goes on, and you'll see more anger. That's just tennis."
Gay Games spokesman Kevin Boyer said four people were taken by ambulance from Gay Games events Sunday.
Two were heat-related: a tennis player in Oak Park and a person involved in the cheerleading competition at Millennium Park were taken to hospitals, he said. Two others were taken to hospitals for non-heat related injuries.
Boyer did not have further details.
----------
jbnoel@tribune.com
jjlong@tribune.com
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