Montreal Out Games
By Rob Silliman—Northeast Regional Director
Republished from October 2006 IGBO Newsletter
July 2006—If you could overlook the politics, this year
was an incredible experience for all gay athletes.
Whether you went to Chicago or
Montreal, new friendships were made and old
friendships were renewed and all the athletes
finally got to do what they wanted to
do…compete.
On July 29,2006, 12,000 athletes from around
the world celebrated the opening ceremonies
of the 1st World Outgames at Montreal’s
Olympic Park. Just like Chicago, it was a fun
celebration of sport. (Although I hear it was
much shorter). When it came right down to it,
all of the events went as planned and everyone
had a good time. You could not avoid the comparison
conversations they were everywhere.
After a week of hearing them, all I can say is
that some liked Chicago better, some liked
Montreal better. SHOCKING isn’t it.
The bowling event was a lot of fun, it was a
little different than previous games, Montreal
had Mixed Doubles and Mixed Teams as well
as Singles, Doubles and Team categories. Being
a huge fan of bowling 37 games in 5 days,
I’m not so sure I would sign up for all those
events again. (But I would have to think twice
since Mixed Teams is where I won my Gold
Medal). Medals are nice, but the only thing
that really mattered to me was meeting old
friends, making some great new ones and exploring
Montreal (on our downtime) It was a
great week for that. It was also a great week
for people watching with all of the athletes in
town and after all it was PRIDE week. Ste
Catherine St. was mobbed every night; we would
go down and watch the day’s events on the
giant screens they set up on the street. With
bowling, sometimes that’s the only way you get
to see other sports.
The highlight of the week was, after our Medal
ceremony on Friday night, walking around Ste
Catherine St and Old Montreal with our medals
on and being stopped by dozens of people
who wanted to know, how we won, what sport
we were with and wanting their picture taken
with us. What a way to leave Montreal feeling
so accepted and genuinely respected. Now I
would be shocked if people didn’t say the same
thing about Chicago, so you see, it wasn’t a
question of where you went, it was question of
“Did you have a great time” and I know I did.
Bring on Copenhagen and Cologne.
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