Stephanie won two gold medals in the past two days, at both her competitions. She skated really well – she looks really confident and smooth on the ice. I’m so proud of her. The skating is really amazing. I have tons of photos, but we’re still unable to connect my laptop to the weak signal here at her dad’s house, and we haven’t found a wireless signal anywhere near the rink, so I’m not able to upload anything yet. I have some amazing pictures though. Be sure to check out Stephanie’s blog, because she’s been posting updates more regularly than I.
It’s really fun to watch some of the same-sex couples skate, and there are many skaters here that are in 8, 9, and 10 levels — Olympic caliber skaters doing Olympic caliber spins and jumps, which is really awesome to watch. We went out last night with a bunch of the women skaters to a restaurant in Andersonville (which is the primarily lesbian area of Chicago) and one of the female skaters with us got fan-mobbed while we were eating, which was really funny. It’s very bizarre to be immersed the skating world so intensely — we’ve been at the rink all day, every day for the past four days, amongst 89 athletes who are busying warming up, practicing, exercising and generally being physically-aware athletes, which is really infectious. I need a sport. The next Gay Games is in Cologne, Germany in 2010. The competitors we talked to are already making plans to go.
We’re getting a better handle on where everything is in Chicago; we’ve been to Boystown a couple of times to shop and eat, and last night we got to see a bit of Andersonville. We also visited a park on the Lakeshore to watch some men’s tennis. The events are pretty spread out, so it hasn’t been to easy to run to other events and get back to the rink.
Today we’re going to visit Ikea, and then this evening is the Exhibition of Champions, where Stephanie will be performing one of her (two!) qualifying programs. It’s possible that it will be televised on Logo, so look for it. There have also been reporters from CNN and ESPN around interviewing people. CNN interviewed Stephanie’s friends Sara and Debbie about their couple’s program. Also, we’ll have the DVD of all the events and the showcase, so we’ll have a party to show everyone once it arrives. I can’t wait, because there are some really amazing things I want to see again.
Photo Galleries from Gay Games 2006:
Gay Games Opening Ceremonies
Gay Games: Figure Skating, Day 1
Gay Games: Figure Skating, Day 2
Gay Games: Figure Skating, Exhibition of Champions
Team Indiana: After Party