Written by:
Annika Dukes
» Order
this Issue of Curve:
12-2
She came to play and stayed for the party. A first-timer’s experience at the 1998 Gay Games in Amsterdam offers a glimpse of what’s ahead for athletes headed to Sydney this November.
When I was first asked to join a basketball team organizing to play in the Gay Games in Amsterdam in 1998, I felt honored and a little bit scared.
I’d first heard of the Gay Games from a friend who won a gold medal playing basketball in the 1994 Games in New York City. She’s a natural athlete who also competed in the triathlon that year.
The women forming this team were some of the better players in the pickup games I was in at the time. I didn’t know them very well, and at 25, I was the youngest of the group. I was worried I wouldn’t be up to their caliber of play.
We christened ourselves the Oakland Stars. At a kickoff reception at the home of the late Dr. Tom Waddell, a 1968 Olympian and gay man who envisioned the first Gay Games, my fears were put to rest. I learned that the Games are open to all (gay and straight) and there are no qualifying trials — anyone with the desire to compete can find a spot on a team. If I thought I was good enough to play, then they thought I was good enough to play in the Gay Games.
Like the Olympics, the Gay Games are held every four years. In 1982 and 1986, the Games were held in San Francisco. In 1990, they moved to Vancouver, Canada. The 1998 Amsterdam Games were the first held outside North America.
Thousands of athletes make the trek every four years to compete — about 1,600 participated in the inaugural Gay Games in 1982, and by the time the Games made its way to New York in 1994, that number had ballooned to almost 11,000 participants from 40 countries, making it the largest sporting event in the world.
Pre-Game Jitters
In August 1998, when we boarded the plane to Amsterdam, our group included our 10 team members plus some of our girlfriends and friends, along with a few other athletes who wanted to get in on our group airfare rate. The direct flight from Oakland was filled almost entirely with those headed for the Games.
In the months leading up to the trip, I had purchased two travel books on Amsterdam and did even more “research” at Barnes & Noble. Yet I was amazed to sit next to a woman on the plane who was coming to Amsterdam as a spectator but didn’t have the slightest idea where she was headed once we landed. Nor did she seem to care. Her backpack was stocked with Power Bars and bagels, and she was content to wander once we arrived until she found a place to stay that suited her.
Our group almost filled the Hotel Hortus, the hostel we reserved with two other teams from the Bay area. It wasn’t until we walked around on our first night and saw the town decorated in yellow and pink Gay Games colors that I started to realize the scope of the event. Even office buildings flew flags with the logo of an intertwined tulip and upside-down triangle; signs everywhere welcomed us with the Games slogan, “Friendship Through Culture and Sports.”
Along with 30 competition sports and six demonstration sports (no medals awarded), the attendant cultural program offered live music, parties, theater, a film festival, lectures, art exhibits, dance events, storytelling and workshops. It was like a big-city gay Pride week, but multiplied by 10.
Halftime Attractions
Our first night in town, we descended on a lesbian nightclub along with hundreds of other women travelers. People spilled over into the street and onto the bar’s outdoor patio. One of our adventurous teammates explored down an alley and found a quiet gay men’s bar with a small dance floor in the back — it was even equipped with a mirrored platform and brass pole.
Before long, we created our own party there, and quickly attracted women from down the street: a softball team from San Francisco; girls who came to videotape, photograph or write about the Games; Canadian women’s tennis players; a track-and-field athlete decorated with medals from previous Gay Games; and many other new friends.
After a few glasses of the local beer, a few of us thought the pole looked awfully inviting. I’m sure I didn’t wear my good black bra for nothing. Unfortunately, I had to give back most of the money I earned, since no one was very familiar with the currency and I’d left the stage with the Dutch equivalent of $50 bills stuffed in my jeans.
Speaking of public drunkenness and nudity, whether you come to the Games single or with a partner by your side or back at home, other women are sure to catch your eye. At least 100,000 women descended on Amsterdam for the Gay Games. Our inhibitions were relaxed, to say the least.
Some of the single gals on our team played the field, inviting different women back to our hostel common room to play cards, drink Heineken from the vending machine and conduct rousing games of Truth or Dare late into the night.
My then-girlfriend and I had discussed nonmonogamy, but had never acted upon it. When I dipped my toe (or, more precisely, my lips) into the waters to try it out, it led to some intense processing during the week.
Out on the Court
As athletes, our first official event was the opening ceremonies held at a huge stadium outside the city. We wore our purple-and-white Team San Francisco jackets while others had more elaborate costumes — the Boston team wore foam lobsters on their heads, the Amsterdam group all had great rainbow umbrellas, and some athletes wore traditional dress from their countries.
When we finally paraded into the stadium, the enormous audience cheered, stomped their feet, clapped in time to the drums, and waved colored flags, transforming the crowd into a churning rainbow sea. As athletes finished their walk around the stadium, they joined the waving, cheering, stomping crowd in the stands.
I imagined this is what Olympic athletes must feel at the center of attention, under the glare of the lights. Only this was tens of thousands of people to support gay and lesbian athletes. It was the most overwhelming feeling.
And then we started to play basketball. Some teams, like ours, had been practicing for months leading up to the Games. Others were less organized. We found ourselves frustrated by the wide range of skill levels all thrown into one round-robin tournament. The international rules were also hard to adjust to. (Mainly, they involved a continuously running clock and not much intervention by the referees.)
Many sports — soccer and softball, for example — were separated into competitive and recreational divisions, and sometimes even a masters (over 35) division. Teams or individual athletes classified themselves; that way, those who came to have fun could play against those of a similar mind, and teams or athletes who wanted to play more competitively could do that, too. Basketball, however, was not separated this way.
Teams also came to Amsterdam with different levels of monetary support. An outreach program worked to bring athletes from underrepresented countries; our team solicited sponsorships to pay for our uniforms and T-shirts, but we all paid our own travel expenses and registration fees.
A teammate’s girlfriend played on a softball team sponsored by a local bar, and they had most of their expenses covered, including rooms at a great hotel. Staying in the hostel with us was the Joe Boxer soccer team, who were laden with great gear — uniforms, T-shirts, bags, warmup suits and, of course, boxers.
In a whirlwind of two games per day, we played teams from Germany, the Netherlands, England and Russia. After each game, we mingled and talked with our opponents as best as we could.
We brought pins, patches and postcards from home to give to our fellow athletes. The more stuff you had to trade, the more exciting souvenirs from other countries you got to bring home. I traded my team T-shirt for a brightly colored Team Berlin shirt that my girlfriend wore; I also ended up with a funny cab-driver hat with an Amsterdam logo.
Our team had discussed beforehand how competitive we wanted to be — whether we wanted to stick to the idea of equal playing time for everyone even in close games, or really play to win.
We had decided that we were playing to win.
I’ve never been a particularly competitive person — I’m usually more interested in the fun of the game. But when our team didn’t do as well as we expected to in Amsterdam, we were all disappointed.
After our final game, we danced a celebratory jig with the Russians in a big circle with our arms linked over each other’s shoulders. And we did one last Oakland Stars cheer, which ended with arms extended and pointed fingers drawing a star very fast in the air. (Did anyone ever understand our cheer? Perhaps not.)
Post-Game Blues
I was surprised by how depressed I felt after our sport was over. Although we went to the basketball finals and other events to cheer our friends (figure skating was my favorite), there was definitely a damper on our last few days in Amsterdam. We tried some “space cakes” at a coffee shop and took in an official dance party and a canal boat tour. But my mood was not helped by the swimmers who sat across from us on the boat tour, taking pictures of themselves decked in their many medals. I also heard them refer to the participation medal that each and every competitor received as the “Special Olympics Medal.” Despite the Gay Games motto, I did not feel a spirit of friendship toward them.
Our flight home was scheduled for a week after the close of the Games, so many of us traveled around Europe before meeting back in Amsterdam for the return trip. The disappointment of our performance had faded somewhat, and the memories of our good times remained. We were part of an amazing event, almost 15,000 athletes strong.
There was much talk of a comeback at Gay Games VI, Sydney 2002. Will the Oakland Stars rise to the challenge again? Only time will tell.
Under wide Aussie Skies
> Gay Games VI in Sydney, Australia
> Sports Festival: November 2–9, 2002
> Cultural Festival: October 25–November 9, 2002
> Registration Deadline: July 31, 2002
> Fee: $195 U.S. (per sport or cultural event); second sport/cultural activity: $30. Includes participation in the opening and closing ceremonies, your sport or event, a participation medal and entry into a host of sports events, performances, parties, and festivities. (No fee for visitors/spectators.)
> For More Info: www.sydney2002.org.au, www.gaygames.com
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