NEWS
Sports
Cologne, Johannesburg and Paris to bid for Gay Games VIII in 2010
January 25, 2005
New York — Groups from Cologne, Johannesburg and Paris have submitted letters of intent to bid for the eighth edition of the quadrennial Gay Games, to be staged in 2010, officials from the Federation of Gay Games announced this week.
The deadline for letters of intent to bid to be submitted to the Federation, the event’s governing body, was January 15th. Final bid materials are due on March 15th.
“These are three outstanding potential locations for the Gay Games,” said Darl Shaaff, co-chair of the Federation’s Site Selection Committee. “We look forward to working with the bidding groups during the site selection process over the next nine months.”
Between June and August 2005, members of the Site Selection Committee plan to travel to each of the candidate cities to survey the proposed venues and meet local supporters. The Site Selection Committee will review each group’s bid materials for completeness and periodically follow up with the bidding groups. The bidding groups will make final presentations before the Federation’s full board of directors at the Federation’s annual meeting this November in Chicago, site of Gay Games VII in 2006.
The Gay Games legacy will be well into its third decade by 2010,” said Kathleen Webster, Co-President of the Federation. “Candidate cities such as Cologne, Johannesburg and Paris show that the inspiration of founder Tom Waddell and other 1982 Gay Games organizers becomes stronger with each cycle, confirming interest in bidding for our events from countries and continents where only just a few years ago such a project could not have been considered.”
Names of the groups submitting letters of intent to bid are Sport Club Janus e.V. (Cologne), the Johannesburg Gay Games Bid Committee and the Paris Gay Games Bid Committee. Federation officials said that support for LGBT community activities is strong by local and federal governments in France, Germany and South Africa.
Roberto Mantaci, Federation co-president, noted that each of the potential 2010 bidding cities has key people who have participated in the Gay Games, attended Federation meetings, and worked on Federation committees. He said that such experience is invaluable, not only in knowing what the Federation is seeking but particularly in what participants want and expect at each Gay Games.
“For the Federation’s part, we’re asking the bidding groups to focus on producing the core sports and cultural events,” Mantaci said. “There has been a tendency of some previous bid groups to say they could organize any number of extra cultural, social and political activities that are not really necessary during the week of the Gay Games. There are plenty of ongoing issues surrounding the LGBT community and sports that deserve a host committee’s fullest attention and resources. And past participants have told us that if the host makes sure the core sports and cultural events are organized well, the Gay Games will be a success.”
The Gay Games is the largest ongoing event on the international LGBT calendar, with more than ten thousand participants taking part in approximately 30 sports, band and choral events every four years. Since the organizers of the first two Gay Games in San Francisco decided to send the event to other cities, groups from more than a dozen cities on four continents have sought the honor of hosting the Gay Games. A wide range of government officials, Olympic athletes, celebrities and community leaders now support local bid groups in their efforts to showcase the Gay Games.
“We extend our best wishes to the groups from Cologne, Johannesburg and Paris who have entered this new stage of the bidding process,” Webster said. “Each would bring a wonderful, unique perspective to the Gay Games and the Federation's board of directors will surely have a challenge selecting any one instead of the others.”
For more information about the Federation of Gay Games, go to www.gaygames.org – www.gaylinkcontent
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For more info on Gay Sport in South Africa contact Gay Sport SA
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