VIII. Gay Games Cologne 2010

The medals were given for age groups and grades between white and black belt. But for the participants it was more important to have fun together.
The participant with the highest grade is Ken Craig (47) born in Glasgow, Scotland, now living in San Francisco since 1989 and is indulged into his passion for Asian martial arts for 30 years. At taekwondo, the multi-time participant of the Gay Games and Out Games has reached the 8th Dan, in aikido he even reached the 9th Dan. During the Gay Games VIII he more acts as a referee and trainer than an active participant. He´s especially taking care for his boys of his gym founded in 1998. The murder of gay student Matthew Shepard of the University of Wyoming, which provided a lot of attention and sympathy (various pop songs, among them one of Elton John and to movies were published), made him found the gym, to not only give gay men more self-confidence but also to provide them with the possibility to defend themselves against homophobe attackers: “Such a perfidious crime, like it happened to Matthew Shepard, should not happen again!”
Ken brought 8 of his pupils to Cologne, one of them got his trip financed through a fund-raising. They start at most different grades. Their trainer Ken told them not to think about medals, but to have fun and to enjoy the experience to be part of it. Should they win a medal it would just be an extra present.  They especially like the event in Cologne because all competitions take place so close to each other and other sports can be easily visited. Ken is also looking forward to meet old friends from the Gay Games Chicago in 2006 and the Copenhagen Out Games.  It was important for Ken to mention which special meaning Tom Waddell and the Gay Games are having for him:”It´s so important to come out of the isolation, to notice that there are so many more lesbians and gays with whom you can share sporty interests and experiences.”

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