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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 15, 1994)
12 ▼ July 1 9 . 1 9 9 4 ▼ ju st o u t T he event The Urban Prairie Gods loosened up the crowd with the largest gay country line dance ever, filling ay Gaines IV was held June 18 to 25 up the entire field. Kate Clinton, “the Clinton who in stadiums, gyms, swimming pools, is not in the White House” emceed the event. The mountains and fields around the New Rainbow Flag was unfurled, oaths were taken, the York metropolitan area. In all, there flame was lit, and fireworks painted the sky. A were 31 sporting events, with par strong feeling of pride and unity brought tears to ticipants ranging from international Olympic med many eyes. As Judith Light said that night, “Seek alists to thousands of home-grown athletes. The ing inclusion means not seeking special rights, but choice of events was staggering, and no one person seeking human rights. We see each other for who could attend them all—though one could try. Some people consider gay-specific sporting we are.” events to be totally unnecessary or overly commer P owerlifting cialized. Others believe the games help to open minds. Bruce Hayes, the 1984 Olympic gold med The powerlifting competition began at 10 am alist, said, “Hopefully, we’ll shatter some of those Sunday, June 19. Although the temperature soared stereotypes that gay people aren’t athletes, be to 98 degrees, and the gym was not air conditioned, cause we are.” it was standing room only for the adoring and Martina Navratilova commented, “Gay Games cheering spectators. The athletes grunted and gri IV... is a powerful vehicle for attacking homophobia maced their way through the competition, lifting and for displaying our power and pride...[it] will seemingly impossibly heavy weights. Would you change the way the world thinks of us.” believe a 105-pound woman could lift 290 pounds? In total there were 61 athletes— 36 women and O pening ceremonies 25 men. Tom Tedesco, a double-medal veteran Saturday evening, June 18, the Gay Games from Gay Games III, co-chairman of the event, and officially opened at Wien Stadium, part of Colum gold medal winner in the 100 kg category this year, bia University’s sports complex on the northern tip stated that the majority of powerlifters were 30 to of Manhattan. The night was hot and the crowd 40 years old. He said, “The average age is a little was wild. The 14,000-seat stadium was filled to older than you might think, because it takes several near capacity with enthusiastic spectators who years of training to reach this level of competi gathered to greet the 11,000 athletes who marched tion.” He expressed disappointment that there in from the soccer field next door. weren’t more men competing, but Linda Belsito, In true Olympic tradition, the founding city of co-chairwoman of the event, said she believed that the Gay Games, San Francisco, led the procession, “it must mean that women are the stronger sex.” followed by Vancouver, British Columbia (the previous host city). The rest of the athletes marched B asketball in alphabetical order by country, by state and by Basketball preliminaries were played on province. New York, as the current host, was the Lehman College campus in the Bronx, where the final team to arrive on the field. enthusiasm from the crowd was overwhelming. Each team had its own style. Team Dallas, for Twenty-five squads participated in Sunday’s example, wore black jeans, white shirts and white events. They came from France, Germany, the straw cowboy hats; Team Hawaii wore double Netherlands and even from the United States. One leis; Team Hamburg wore sailor hats; Team Aus of the highlights was when New York Gov. Mario tralia wore khaki uniforms and straw hats. The Cuomo came on court dribbling a ball, warming up Florida Team had beach balls, while Team with the players. Although the visiting interna Amsterdam carried umbrellas with a balloon on tional press wondered if the governor was gay, the the tip. Team Portland wore Kelly green shorts, New York crew realized that it was simply an vests and hip packs. election year. And guess what—the governor scored. Gay men all agog as they await competition in the W restling water polo event The wrestling finals, held Wednesday night, June 22, at New York University’s Coles Sports complex, were a feast for the eyes. Female and male wrestlers grappled on the mats, two matches at a time. Linda Avitabile, co-chairwoman of the event, gave an impassioned speech at the onset. “Once in everyone’s life, ” she said, “ it is wonder ful to go into a stadium and hear everybody cheer.” Her team. The New York Knights, got their share of cheers. They grabbed the gold in the female division, winning four top places out of six, as well as two silver medals. Avitabile herself received the gold in the 180.5 pound weight class. No one team had a majority of the winners in the men’s division, but Ed Unger, co-chairman of the event, received a silver medal in the 180.5 pound weight class. The crowd gave a tremendous ovation for Juanita Harvey, the 38-year-old grandmother in spandex, who was profiled in Out magazine. Her match was perhaps the most exciting, due to the especially fierce competition. Her gold medal win in the 198 pound weight class was all the more savored because at the last minute she moved up a weight class. T able tennis The table tennis competition was held at the Lost Battalion Hall in Rego Park, Queens, on Tuesday, June 21. There were four divisions; women, men, mixed and teams. Women’s and men’s were broken down into tournament, experi enced and recreational subdivisions. H ii • S wimming Seven world records were set in swimming as of this writing. Records are over a short course metric pool and are pending approval from United States Masters Swimming, which can take several months. PHOTO BY THOMAS BARRETO PHOTO B Y IHOMAS BARRETO G Jennie Eisenbraun o f Portland won the gold medal in the physique category T rack and field The major news from track and field is about Phil Raschker, 47, of Atlanta, Ga., who set a world’s masters record in the 200 meter dash during the heptathlon competition on Monday. P hysique The Paramount Theater at Madison Square Garden, the scene of rock concerts and karate matches, has probably never had a show or an audience like the physique finals for Gay Games IV. The capacity crowd was sitting in the aisles for a glimpse of the tanned and oiled hard bodies that graced the stage. John Burke (the host of cable TV’s Stonewall Place) and Judy “I-look-like-a- piftata-for-the-Joffrey-Ballet” Tenuta were the feuding emcees. The eight judges had their work cut out for them as each class of athletes—the men’s masters over age 60 and ages 50 to 60, the women’s elite over age 50, the bantamweights, the lightweights, the middleweights, the heavyweights and the mixed pairs—each took the stage to display their talents. At least 118 individuals were whittled down to 27 finalists. There were crowd-pleasers such as Duane O’Conner, who flexed to a Puccini aria, Lisa Schoenberg and Marta Selvi, who had the audi ence cheering, and the mixed pair who demon strated their abilities to “Rhapsody in Blue.” Drug tests are performed on all the winning athletes. The committee is using the same com pany that conducted drug tests for the Olympics in Los Angeles. Final results and medals are pending the results of these tests. A bit of controversy concerning the use of steroids by HIV-positive athletes erupted. Marlin Collingwood, director of communications for the games, stated that such use is permitted on an individual basis, but that all athletes had to sign a form indicating that this would be “a drug-tested event by urinalysis. Any athlete testing positive will forfeit medal.” Ste roids are not a standard treatment in HIV-positive individuals. V olleyball The volleyball competition was hot and ag gressive. The results of the events were as follows: Women’s Division A—Team Berkeley, Women’s Division B—Santa Cruz Quakes, Men’s Division AA—NYC Power Authority, Men’s Division A— After Shock Hamburger Mary, Men’s Division BB—Houston Gentry, Men’s Division B—NYC G odivas, M en’s D ivision C— Germany Puabaspitzla.