Two years ago, Jacob Gardner of Madison, Conn., was walking on the track before a high school track meet when he was hit in the head by a rock thrown by a teammate who said he did it because Jacob is gay. A great story in the Shorline (Conn.) Times relates that this has a [...]
Posts under ‘Track & Field’
Retired Swedish Olympian Kajsa Bergqvist divorces man to be with a woman
Kajsa Bergqvist is well-known in the track and field community as a champion high jumper from Sweden, winning an Olympic bronze medal in 2000 and the world title in 2005. She has now gone public, confirming that she is in a relationship with a woman, after divorcing her husband, Swedish film director Måns Herngren about [...]
Up-and-coming track and field compete at Ostrava 2011
With 2012 being an Olympics year, we will turning our attention to sports that don’t get a lot of attention normally in the U.S. One of them is the decathlon, where the winner of the gold medal is crowned the world’s greatest athlete. It’s hard to argue since the winner has to master 10 different [...]
Trans athlete Keelin Godsey places fifth in hammer throw at Pan American Games
Keelin Godsey, a former track & field standout at Bates College, placed fifth in the hammer throw at the Pan American Games today as a member of the United States National Track & Field team. There were 14 women in the competition; Godsey threw a distance of 67.84m, which is his third-best distance ever. Godsey is [...]
Openly gay athlete Craig Cassey speaks out on Spirit Day against bullying
Our friend Craig Cassey, whom we have written about numerpus times, appeared on Dallas TV today as part of Spirit Day, where people wear purple to show solidarity with LGBT people against bullying. He is a freshman at Georgetown University, on the track team and openly gay. Craig was in Dallas as part of a [...]
Moment #4: Publication of ‘The Front Runner’
Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Books, 1974. Many would be surprised to know that the best-selling gay novel of all time is a story about a gay coach and his Olympic runner as told in Patricia Nell Warren’s 1974 best seller, ‘The Front Runner.’ The novel centered [...]
Moment #27: María José Martínez-Patiño kicked off Spanish track team, titles stripped
Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Track & Field, 1986. For Spanish hurdler María José Martínez-Patiño , the journey to prove her womanhood in the world of sports was costly. In 1983 she competed in the World Track & Field Championships in Helsinki, Finland; It was there she [...]
Moment #30: Athens Summer Olympics has 11 out athletes
Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Olympics, 2004. There had been the occasional out athlete at the Olympics before, but 2004 was a coming out party for Olympians. All told at least 11 openly gay athletes participated in the Olympics in the birthplace of the Games. From [...]
British track athletes bare all in ad campaign for heart research
Four British track athletes have posed nude for an ad campaign by Alfa Romeo to raise money for heart research. Said sprinter Harry Aikines-Aryeete (full photo below): “I’ve actually been in a few photo shoots before but nothing to this degree. This is the most revealing I’ve been for a shoot and it really was [...]
Roger Skedd, naked Olympic hopeful, for hire
If you’re in the UK and want a hot, naked Olympic hopeful to work your party…you’re in luck! Decathlete Roger Skedd is funding his Olympic training in part by working nights as a naked butler at private parties, including those of gay men. Skedd told the Mirror: Sometimes you’re at a several million pound townhouse [...]
Moment #65: Caster Semenya asked to undergo gender test
Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Track & Field, 2009. Across our entire list of 100 moments, this may be the most complicated and most misunderstood. Here’s what we know. In the summer of 2009, Semenya won the 800m World Championship in Berlin (see the full video [...]
Babe Didrikson Zaharias gets some love from the New York Times
The New York Times ran a full-page Sunday story on Babe Didrikson Zaharias, who is regarded as one of the greatest athletes, male or female, of the 20th Century. The piece focused on her athletic triumphs in various sports (track & field and golf, in particular), her fading public recognition and how she changed women’s [...]
Video: Craig Cassey on MSNBC
Update: This post now includes the video of Craig’s interview. Programming note: Craig Cassey, the openly gay high school track athlete from suburban Philadelphia we have featured on Outsports,was interviewed by MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts on his show Friday. Roberts is openly gay. Craig got a lot of attention this week after he was named prom [...]
Openly gay athlete voted high school prom king
Here’s a story to warm the heart: Craig Cassey, an openly gay high school track athlete in Pennsylvania, was crowned his high school’s prom king this weekend. He then had his own special prom moment with his boyfriend. I have written several times about Craig and his awesome blog, Craig’s Gay Word and he continues [...]
Track & field could soon ban women with high testosterone levels
The International Association of Athletics Federations, track & field’s governing body, is changing some hormone-based rules to determine whether women can compete against other women. According to the new guidelines (in very basic terms), women with hyperandrogenism whose testosterone levels approach those of men would not be allowed to compete as a woman. There are other [...]