Gay Olympians

There was lots of wonderful, positive comment about participation by women in the 2012 London Olympics.  We have come a long way from the 1896 Games when the founder, Baron de Coubertin stated their inclusion would be "impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic, and incorrect".  By the 1900 Paris Games, women were permitted to enter, but only to play the genteel "lady like" sports of lawn tennis and golf.

Just amazing: standing ovation for Attar as she crossed the line

A record 44% of all competitors at London 2012 were women.  With the inclusion of women's boxing (what fun to have dropped Coubertin into the ring to slug it out with one of them), every sport now has woman competitors.  Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei sent women athletes for the first time, meaning that every participating country has now sent women athletes.  I know that for me one of the most touching moments was the standing ovation for Saudi athlete Sarah Attar as she crossed the finish line in the 800m race in her headscarf.  There is no question that there has been an absolute sea change in women's participation.

Paralympics

We are five days away from the opening of the Paralympics.  The level of interest being expressed is huge.  I know I'm basically a soft-toy in a human body, but I found it incredibly warming to see the amount of people on my Twitter feed genuinely shouting out "But this isn't the end of the Games" at the main Olympic closing ceremony.  Although there were forerunners, the Paralympics only started in their present form in Seoul in 1988 (that is, same host city, same facilities, held straight after the main Olympics).  The name apparently comes from Greek para = "along side" and not as many think, from paraplegic.  They have come from no where to be, to many, more inspiring than the Olympics themselves. Within the Paralympics themselves, a record number of women will also be competing this time (double the number that took part in Barcelona twenty years ago).

"Benefit Scroungers"

The excitement around the Paralympics is doubly gratifying, if just a tad ironic, given the type of depressing hostility and prejudice towards ordinary disabled people that bloggers such as @BendyGirl and @MrsNickyClark describe on a regular basis, including an ongoing war on disabled benefit claimants.

Pallid Weedy Vegetarians

So far, so good.  My god, even fellow vegetarians are represented in this splendid display of diversity and inclusiveness.  Lizzie Armitstead won the very first medal for Team GB with a silver in the cycling.  She commented:

"One of the most common misconceptions I’ve come across is that vegetarians are pallid, gentle creatures who would recoil in a tough sporting arena. Despite the fact I was breaking school records on the track, people still questioned my diet’s ability to make me strong.”

Take solace, Lizzie: American Olympian Carl Lewis is a vegan and picked up 9 Gold medals during his Olympic career.  He actually credits his success to his diet.

Where are the Gays?

So, where are the gays in all this?  Of the 10,960 participants in the 2012 London Olympics, the Pink News gave the grand total of fourteen (0.12%) as being openly gay.  That is two men and twelve women.  The Telegraph (link below) gave the number as twenty one (three men and eighteen women), which is 0.19%.  Jokes about the Team GB diving team having crashed the hook-up app Grindr aside, this is pretty mind-boggling.  There are 6098 young male athletes there... and three are openly gay?  If we're going on one in twenty figure of the general population you'd expect over 300.  Instead we have Matthew Mitcham, Carl Hester (Team GB, Gold Medalist) and the Dutch equestrian, Edward Gal.  Representation by gay women is clearly better, but still pitifully low.

I wonder how many readers of this blog are aware of the existence of the Gay Games?  They started life as the "Gay Olympics" in San Francisco.  Tina Turner sang at the opening ceremony.  Three weeks before they were due to start, the International Olympic Committee sued the organisers to stop them using the name.  The defendants pointed out that there had been no objection to the Nebraska Rat Olympics or the Police Olympics, but lost their case.

I wish it were a joke. Object to sporting gays, but not to rats.

The Gay Games continue.  These are not small events.  There were 9500 participants at the Cologne Gay Games in 2010 (over double the number competing in the Paralympics, and not far short of the 10,960 in the Olympics).  They came from over 70 countries.  The participants in the next Gay Games in Cleveland in 2014 will not, however, be using the same stadium that the Olympians and Paralympians will - nor will they be competing in the same year, nor will the main stream media be covering the event in any way the same manner.

You might question why there is a need for a Gay Games in 2014.  I do too.  I wish that we had moved on since the times of the 80s were gays were seen as "sissies" and incapable of competing alongside straight people.  It's shameful that the eloquent defence of their existence (click for link) has to be put by former soccer star Derek Liecty in the way that he does.  Look at the stats that I have given on "open" participation in the 2012 Olympics, however, and you understand why there is still a need to provide a safe and inclusive space for non-straight athletes to compete.

Go Mitcham, Go TeamOz

Much has been commented on homophobia in soccer in this country.  Less comment has been made on the far wider picture, which is of an environment desperately lagging behind the main stream.  The likes of Matthew Mitcham provide an amazing role model to younger gay people, athletes or not.  The Telegraph recently ran an excellent piece on this issue.  Its most depressing finding was that gay athletes are routinely dropped by sponsors and this is why most remain in the closet.  Nonetheless the fact that the Telegraph ran this piece left me a bit stunned.  This from a paper to that still routinely calls us homosexuals, and didn't drop the inverted commas around "gay" that long ago.

We are really getting there on women's participation.  All races and religions are represented at the Olympics.  Team Veggie is proving us proud.  We have the Paralympics to look forward to shortly.  We will get there on Gay Olympians I am sure, but how crap I've even had to write this piece, frankly.

Take note

Don't marry a man unless you are proud to have a son exactly like him

Gloomy

I need plenty of distractions at this moment.

Culture

So I made it back to Smoke City in time for Menningarnótt, or Culture Night 2012. We had wonderful weather which makes a day/night like this, with thousands and thousands of people pouring into the downtown area, a perfect success (the point being that people would pour in regardless of the weather, being hearty Viking types, but the less wet and wind-blown and harried they are, the better!)

I was lucky enough to snap a bunch of really awesome and colorful photos of locals and visitors, which you can look at on my personal Facebook. Then go to the  Iceland Eyes Facebook page and Like it, just for fun : )

Here are a few shots to get you started...

I love the super colorfulness of this shot from the day's concert series at the Heart Park:

And here's Bedda, who some of you may know from the award-winning Our House hostel in downtown Reykjavik : )

Assange's Balcony Speech

This afternoon Julian Assange delivered a long-awaited speech from the balcony of the Embassy of Ecuador in front of an assembled crowd of world media and supporters.  I'm intrigued to see what the press makes of it.  You can watch the speech in full here or read the full transcript here if you prefer.

I personally found the speech quite astounding.  There were various suggestions as to what he might say about the resolution of his situation, that he might submit voluntarily to the Swedish authorities etc.  He is of course under an obligation, as part of his being granted political asylum by the Republic of Ecuador, to refrain from making political statements.  Instead he used the opportunity, from the premises of the Embassy, to drive home a very political message and to describe his personal position in some of the dramatic terms that I have commented on in my last blog entry.

Specifically, the language he used would not be out of place in a political thriller.  He spoke in Hollywood terms of police "descending" on the building, "swarming" up an internal fire escape, "after dark".  He spoke in the language of the underdog: a courageous small nation standing up bravely to "threats" and taking a "stand for justice", a country defending its Constitution, of shining a light on the secret crimes of the powerful, of unity in oppression and determination. 

All of this is of course like catnip to his devotees.  It is exactly the language they love and a reinforcement of a vision they seem to require.  The paranoid world they dwell in is full of fear, secrecy, and conspiracies.  He spoke to his supporters as being "witnesses" who had protected him, giving them a sense of importance and purpose.  It is all about vigilance: looking out for the hidden faces of the "enemy" and "oppression".  He reduced it to the personal: "his children who have been denied their father.  Forgive me, we will be reunited soon."

What he did not do once was mention why he was held up in the Embassy, which is because of his decision and own voluntary act in skipping bail, and being a fugitive from due judicial process.  Not once did he mention the two women in Sweden, alleged victims of serious sexual assault.  He blatantly conflated the work of Wikileaks (which many consider extremely valuable) with his personal situation of being a rape suspect avoiding justice.

To me he came across as being caught up in the same head space of many of his devoted supporters.  He expressly stated that the UK did not "throw away the Vienna Convention" because his supporters "were watching".  This must be either highly insincere, or the view of a fantasist.  The implication is the UK would have stormed the Embassy had no one noticed? I can't get my head round how that would work exactly.  I should have thought the media would have been involved in any such event, regardless of the presence of a group of people waiting outside.

He brought the United States into the picture by speaking of a witch hunt.  There was no acceptance that it is Sweden that requires him for a criminal prosecution, not a country that has not even sought his extradition.  It is exactly the same mixing of real and hypothetical that his supporters engage in. He spoke of Pussy Riot and the disgraceful case of the treatment of Private Manning.  What exactly do either of those have to do with his position as a rape suspect?

Assange named a host of Latin American nations whose foreign ministers would hold an "emergency meeting" (again note the drama of his language).  The irony that many on the list have quite dubious records on human rights and government oppression surely cannot be lost on the intelligent observer.  Here is a man whose organisation has stood up against government secrecy and censorship seeking refuge with regimes whose records are for the most part incomparably worse than the "oppressor" nations which are his enemies.

Julian Assange did not come across to me as a frightened man.  He came across today, in my subjective view, as an arrogant, egotistical, manipulative coward.  The last few days have really changed my view on him, and not for the better.  His speech took us no further.  It gave no detail of anything that would happen next, of any remorse, or of any recognition of the two women who have alleged serious sexual assault.  I joked before he came on that his appearance would remind me of a scene from Evita.  For the drama he plied on, and for his astounding egomania, I fear I was far from wrong.

Mark it

Today marks the day.
The day I finally gave up on something.
Something that took a lot of hard work.
I was hoping a lot.
I enjoyed it and disliked it.

Sometimes, maybe, horoscopes are true ...

Kickboxing

Being a beginner kickboxer feels like a person dancing with two left feet. A good sport to sweat though. I am already dripping puddles after 30minutes o kickboxing :) Whats even better is that I can sweat it out at home, thanks to Youtube ...;)