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Outsports Clubhouse: Membership For Gay Sports Fans And Athletes
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Cyd's Team Wins Gold
 Gold: Since I was very young, I have dreamt of
winning a gold medal in the Olympic Games. Eleven
years ago, I graduated from high school and decided I
had other things to accomplish in my life. A very
good decision, no doubt. Still, there has always been
a part of me that wondered . . .
A gold medal in the Gay Games doesn't mean what a gold
in the Olympics means. The Olympics are a collection
of the best athletes in the world. Period. The
participants at the Gay Games are those gay men and
lesbians who can make it to Sydney. A gold at these
Games in Sydney doesn't mean what a gold in the 2000
Games in Sydney meant; but, it doesn't mean
less.
I won a gold medal today in the 4X400m relay. We won
by a good margin - nine seconds translates into a
60-70 yard victory. We also won with a respectable
time - 3:27. Not great, but respectable.
Regardless of the time and the competition, this gold
medal means something very special to me. As I said
in an earlier article, Outsports was founded on the
hope of bridging the gap between gays and sports.
This medal will forever be a symbol of my own personal
struggle to combine those two worlds - the track and
field life I enjoyed in high school, and my sexuality.
Those two worlds never coexisted in me before; they
do now.
The venue, to me, adds to that. We weren't at a high
school track or a collegiate venue; we won the gold at
Olympic Park in Sydney where, just two years ago,
Maurice Green and Michael Johnson adorned their spikes
and took gold. That the Gay Games, and this medal,
are at this venue adds a special wonderment to the
whole experience.
As I get ready to run, I put my headphones on as I
stretch. Eminem gets my heart pumping. Words by R.
Kelly, written for the Winter Games a year ago, get me
smiling: "I'm that star up in the sky; I'm that
mountain peak up high; hey, I made it; I'm the world's
greatest."
From what I've heard and seen this week, I can safely
say most of the 13,000 other gay and lesbian athletes
here feel the same way. by Cyd Zeigler Jr.
Hot in the Water: Karen James, of Team New
York, is on fire in the water. After nine events, she
has seven golds, one silver and a bronze medal. She
has also broken three Gay Games records - in the 200m
butterfly, 100m freestyle, and 100m butterfly. She's
easy to spot in the water - she's the one with the
pink swim cap that says, "Dangerous When Wet" on it.
Apparently. Her girlfriend, Mary Carter, has
collected three gold and two bronze of her own. The
two joked that they now have a brand new set of
coasters for their coffee table.
Track Officials Lack Any Sense of Humor: The
Aussies have been amazingly friendly - but, for some
reason, the people running track and field are angry
and rude. One of the rules they've come up with is
that you can't be shirtless in the competition area
(i.e., the track). I remember seeing at the Olympics
- here, in Sydney - American sprinters pulling their
singlets down and doing a victory lap. Oh well -
guess not everyone in Sydney can be cool.
Quick Hits: We went to the basketball party
last night where each U.S. team handed out an "award"
to an international team; and vice versa. The party
was "crashed" by shirtless locals handing out flyers
for the Black Party. Not many takers for the party;
but, plenty for the guys . . . The public
transportation here is just fantastic. The trains go
everywhere; and, for those nooks and crannies they
don't go to, you have a bus leaving every five minutes
. . . There's a tall building in the center of town
that, at night, has lights at the top of it. Flying
around those lights are bugs and, swooping in on the
bugs all night are hundreds of large bats. Looks like
Gotham City . . .
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