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Outsports Clubhouse: Membership For Gay Sports Fans And Athletes
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A Great Week at the Track
 By Cyd Zeigler Jr.
Outsports.com
I spent part of each day of the Gay Games at the track. I hadn?t expected to want to do that, with so much else going on. To be sure, I made it to many other sports ? ice hockey, field hockey, volleyball, swimming, and even netball. But, the track was where my team ? the L.A. track team ? made its camp, so I found myself taking the yellow line and venturing out to Olympic Park every morning.
The venue was a dream: the warm-up track for the 2000 Olympic Games. The sun baked into the stadium, and each day got hotter; by Thursday, the temperature was hovering around 100 degrees and on Friday, people starting from the blocks complained that the track was too hot to touch. On that final day, several runners collapsed after the 400m and 1500m races; four sprinters even decided to scratch their 400m final in the 18-29 category.
The announcer, who provided some remarkable comments all week, repeatedly announced that athletes should ?be sure to keep yourself well-lubricated; we don?t want anyone getting dizzier than they want to be.?
The humor he provided in his commentary throughout the week was a welcome reprieve from the ultra-serious tone the officials took on the field. They ran a tight ship ? which was often a bit jarring in the ?no worries? atmosphere of Sydney. At various times, athletes were instructed to keep their shirts on, not smoke, and were prevented from running for either checking in several minutes late and/or failing to pre-scratch from certain events. A bit confusing, the officials were at times also very lax about their own rules (one official was even caught smoking himself) ? but, all in all, they kept it a very serious, down-to-business meet.
Brian Fell (above), with Team Los Angeles, was the most dominant performer at the meet. Posting meet-best times in all his races, he won gold in the 18-29 age bracket of the 100m, 200m, 400m, 4X100m and 4X400m. He wowed the crowd in the 4X100m, running the second leg for Team LA; when he received the baton on the back stretch, he was five yards behind the leader; when he handed off the baton, he had built a lead of over five yards.
Curtis Moore, from San Francisco, also provided some solid times for his 35-39 age group. He took home 13 medals in all ? five of them gold ? which, according to our count, was the highest at the track and, possibly, the highest total at the Games.
Michele Freeman, from Los Angeles, got swarmed by various members of the press after her 200m final after posting a time of 29.71. At 48, with graying hair, her times would have taken fourth in the under 35 age category in either the 100m or 200m.
The men?s 1500m provided the greatest excitement of the week on the final day. All told, three medals were decided by less than .1 seconds ? which, when you?re talking about times of over four minutes, is discernable only by a photograph.
It was hard, at times, to keep track of who was running next, what with the number of age categories in many events. From age 30 on, each five years was a different age category. Even some of the older athletes I spoke with, whom had won medals because of the inordinate amount of age levels, agreed: giving out ten gold medals to the men, and eight to the women, in the 10K was just too many.
The track was, happily, my home away from my apartment away from home for five wonderful days. I look forward to doing it all again in 2006.
Because no records had been kept in New York or Amsterdam, all of the gold-medal times at the track were new Gay Games records (below are meet records, regardless of age):
GAY GAMES MEET RECORDS
WOMEN
100M
Elling, Agnes Amsterdam 13.20
200M
Elling, Agnes Amsterdam 26.82
400M
Rae, Trudy Gos 61.59
800M
Rae, Trudy Gos 2:24.78
1500M
Taggart, Sally Sydney 5:22.82
5000M
Taggart, Sally Sydney 19:32.59
10000M
Rogers, Leah Melbourne 39:48.30
100M Hurdles
Norquist, Amy Oakland 20.07*
400M Hurdles
Elling, Agnes Amsterdam 65.41
3000M Steeplechase
Buthelezi, Hlengiwe Johannesburg 14:16.83
4X100M Relay
GLOBAL TEAM 56.11
Quirk, Clare; Ligteringen, Ren￩e; Mcdowell, Erin rhea; Elling, Agnes
4X200M Relay
SEATTLE ONE 2:00.28
Fazio, Karlyne; Jaworski, Teresa 66; Quarrier, Marian; Suter, Christine
4X400M Relay
GLOBAL TEAM 4:33.60
Eggeling, Tatjana; Elling, Agnes; Mcdowell, Erin rhea; Quitzau, Stacey
Long Jump
Leaping Rabbit, Granja Als 4.09m*
High Jump
Harrop, Gina Can 1.75m
Pole Vault
Stary, S. Jennifer Snd 2.40m
Javelin
Sofield, Dawn Srv 38.11m
Shot Put
Stary, S. Jennifer Snd 10.99m
Discus
Meili, Claudia Bas 40.11m
Hammer Throw
Meili, Claudia Bas 31.78m
5000M Walk
Cummings-donnelly, Sharon Sydney 32:53.90
MEN
100M
Fell, Brian Los Angeles 10.74
200M
Fell, Brian Los Angeles 21.74
400M
Fell, Brian Los Angeles 48.20
800M
Heinemann, Roland Berlin 2:01.39
1500M
Kuhn, Ulrich Maz 4:06.26
5000M
Gray, Brendan Brisbane 15:30.28
10000M
Griffiths, Geoffrey Ft. Lauderdale 33:53.12
100M Hurdles
Hewitt, Andrew Sydney 15.84
400M Hurdles
Schmidt, Johnathan Hmt 56.73
3000M Steeplechase
Morrison, Ian Dublin 9:49.14
4X100M Relay
TEAM LOS ANGELES 45.63
Darras, Todd; Fell, Brian; Anderson, Shon; Zeigler, Cyd
4X200M Relay
TEAM USA FOUR 1:37.11
Hall, Derwin; Jones, David; Hagler, Trent; Justin, Joseph
4X400M Relay
TEAM LOS ANGELES 3:27.02
Zeigler, Cyd; Anderson, Shon; Caldwell, Gabriel; Fell, Brian
Long Jump
Snowden, Reggie San 6.64m
Triple Jump
Snowden, Reggie San 12.74m
High Jump
Rollenberg, Erik Haa 1.85m
Pole Vault
Lamar, Russell Seattle 3.30m**
Javelin
Livingston, Russ Ago 46.25m
Shot Put
Dehn, Ronald Fra 12.84m
Discus
Dehn, Ronald Fra 37.37m
Hammer Throw
Dehn, Ronald Fra 42.95m
Decathlon
Lamar, Russell Seattle 5,658
5000M Walk
Matulovich, David Peter Auckland 27:02.37
MIXED
800m Medley Relay
Usa-West 1:44.16
Moore, Curtis; Norfleet, Leo; Freeman, Michele; Morrison, Carmen
* Set record during heptathlon
** Set record during decathlon
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