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SPORTS
................................
U
ntil now, athletes from Oregon
met up at the Gay Games virtu
ally unfamiliar with other com
petitors from around the state.
This year’s competitors will
walk into Sydney’s Aussie Stadi
um for the Gay Games VI Sport
&. Cultural Festival a solid unit
thanks to Team Oregon— an
organization made up of a color
ful potpourri of athletes from
around the state who have
come together bonded by a
fierce love of fraternity and
competition.
“In the past there has been
some jealousy or animosity
between some of the city teams,”
says Portland swimmer and team
leader Jon Palanuk. “We really
focused this year on having a state
team.” He and Chris Gaarder, also a
Portland swimmer, stepped up this year
to organize and lead the group.
;
Team Oregon has 67 athletes going to |
Sydney, competing in more than a dozen |
separate events, including basketball,
&
howling, bridge, golf, marathon, swim-
§
ming, tennis, triathlon, volleyball and
*
weightlifting. More than 11,000 athletes
from around the world will compete in 31
events during the sports part of the festival
Nov. 2 to 9.
Team Oregon debuted in 1982 at the first-
ever Gay Games in San Francisco. Then state
Rep. Vera Katz gave the group the state flag
right from her office to carry during the opening
ceremonies. That same flag has traveled to every
Gay Games with Team Oregon ever since.
But this year Team Oregon will sport more
chic attire. Palanuk grins: “We’ve got really
stylish PUM A clothes [thanks to a generous
discount from the corporation]. We’ll go in and
look like a wonderful, unified body.”
The sum of its parts
B
efore hooking up with Team Oregon,
Palanuk had not swum in a pool in 25
years. Now he’s headed to perhaps the most
prestigious pool on the planet. He started swim
ming and competing again and at his first Gay
Games came away with gold and silver.
“The Gay Games has really created for me a
new family,” Palanuk says. “You know you have
your work family, friends family and blood fam
ily, and now I have a swim family. The people I
swim with in Portland, they’re mostly straight,
but they’re so supportive and now pea-green
with envy that I’ll be swimming in the fastest
pool in the world.”
Perhaps more blissful than the thrill of victo
ry is the atmosphere of the Games. “If you’ve
ever considered participating in a Games, do it,”
Palanuk exhorts. “Many of the events, I have
just been turned to tears.... Either as part of the
Games or as a spectator, you just feel tremen
dous joy to be part of such a special event."
P
ortlander Tom Barreto is a perfect example
of a true athlete.
Having played competitively for most of
his life, the Eyes on Broadway optometrist can be
found two or three times a week punishing tennis
balls at the Irvington Tennis Club. However, in a
sport where most players start in country clubs,
Barreto’s beginnings were a little less lavish.
“We were thrilled when my dad built a
huge slab of concrete... in our back yard near
our bam,” he laughs. He was 11 years old on a
farm in Lebanon, Oregon. “We measured out
the parameters for a tennis court, put up a net
made of twine, and my eight brothers and sis
ters fought over who would get to play with the
two rackets we had.”
After playing competitively in high school,
Barreto went on to play in college at Pacific
University. Hungry for more, he kept up his skills
and connected with Team Oregon at the 1990
Gay Games in Vancouver, British Columbia.
“Team Oregon is [a chance to] show the
world a unified impression of Oregon. The group
this year is very active [and] vibrant.. .with plen
ty of enthusiasm and leadership.”
Barreto will compete in Sydney in the
Open Division of both singles and doubles.
He’ll be playing doubles with his partner (ten
nis gnd life), Brian Sinclair, who returns for his
third Gay Games this year.
“Walking into the stadiums and hearing
50,000 fans screaming and cheering on
the athletes from all of the countries
that are competing,” Barreto says, “it’s
an incredible feeling.”
“We’ve both been athletic all our lives,
though Sara excelled early as a national cham
pion moguls skier when she was in high
school!” Richter exclaims.
Together they began competing in
the G am es and were overjoyed to add
another little athlete to their travels
during the last one in 1998— their
daughter, Bella, who was just 1 1/2 at
the time.
“1 have a wonderful memory of the
Amsterdam Games, where Sara got a sil
ver medal in the sprint triathlon and I got
a bronze medal in the Olympic distance
tri,” Richter recalls. “We have a picture of
the two of us with our medals holding our
daughter...and [it] ended up being
included in the commemorative book of
the Games! What a thrill to see our
family there.”
Having experienced great suc
cess at past Games, Richter expects
she and Wiener have a good shot at
medaling again this year. “I’m a
very strong cyclist,” says the ath
lete, who will also compete in the
Olympic distance triathlon.
Wiener will again compete in
the sprint triathlon and the half
marathon in Sydney. “Her training’s
going really well,” Richter says. JfTl
The G ay G ames VI S port & C ultural
F estival is Oct. 25 to Nov. 9. For more
information visit wtvw.sydney2002.org.au or
www.teamoregonusa.com.
C ourtney P erkins is a Portland free-lance writer.
F
or Bend partners Jill Richter and
Sara Wiener, who will be compet
ing in cycling, triathlon and
marathon events, this year’s Games
will be a full family affair.
“Sydney will be my fourth games,
and I’ve never before been affiliated
with a team,” Richter says. “When
Sara and I were in Amsterdam, we
ran across members of Team Ore
gon. ..ever since then we knew we
wanted to be part of Team Oregon
for the Sydney games.”
Richter started doing triathlons
18 years ago in Anchorage, Alaska,
because she loved cross-training and
doing multisport endurance-type
events.
360
Joanne Richter enters her fourth G ay Games to run and
bike for Oregon
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