|
Outsports Clubhouse: Membership For Gay Sports Fans And Athletes
|
|
|
 |
 |
| |
This Cop Is Down but Not Out
 TODAY'S NEWS AND NOTES
Lars Rains raced toward the first hurdle, leaped but didn't make it. Down he went.
He approached the second hurdle and he went down again. The same thing then happened on hurdles 3, 4, 5, 6,7, 8, 9 and 10. Ten hurdles, 10 falls.
But a weird thing happened--the crowd at Sydney's Olympic Park cheered, cheered wildly as Captain Ahab kept tripping over the white whale. Rains would go on from the hurdles and continue in the Gay Games decathlon. He won the gold, mainly because he was the only competitor in his age group, but it's unlikely he'll ever hear cheers as loud as those when he failed.
While shaken, Rains was unbowed. After all, New York City cops have to be tough. Especially openly gay ones.
The reaction of the crowd to Rains' futile fight with the hurdles sums up the best of the Gay Games--it's all about participating, and only secondarily about winning. Rains said he soldiered on over the hurdles precisely because the crown was cheering him on.
Not that Rains isn't a winner. He's the founder of the Gotham Knights gay rugby club, and is competing in seven other track and field events besides the decathlon. He was accorded the ultimate honor by being chosen to carry the flag for Team New York at the Opening Ceremonies.
Rains, 32, is a firm believer in the inclusiveness of the Gay Games and it's a model he followed in helping to organize the Gotham Knights.
"The biggest thing is we get guys who have never played rugby before," Rains said. "After a few practices, they say, 'I wish this was the way my gym class was.' "
Rains, sporting a fresh tatoo of a silver fern he got in New Zealand, was not wild about rugby at the Games because it's the touch and not tackle version. "It's geared to little guys who are fast. I like to kick and I like to tackle and you can't do either," said the burly Rains as he clutched a can of Victoria Bitter beer. But he was out watching a touch "friendly" on Sunday between two Australian teams because he so much believes in what the Games stand for.
Assigned to a police precinct in Queens, Rains had no trouble getting the OK from top brass to march in Sydney. He marched in uniform carrying an American flag.
With the decathlon out of the way and able to focus on the weight field events like hammer. Rains was more in his element. The hurdles were long passed, though he carried around enough bumps and bruises to stay with him a while. --By Jim Buzinski
|
| |
|
|
