The Gay Games Trivia Quiz

Answer: San Francisco

As with the Olympic games on which they are based, the Gay Games are held every four years. They were originally billed as the Gay Olympics but a threat of legal action forced the organisers to drop the word "olympic". Interestingly, as was noted at the time, the Olympic committee had never objected to events such as the Police Olympics or the Nebraska Rat Olympics.

Answer: Decathlon

Waddell was a New Jersey native who began training as a decathlete in 1966 as part of his punishment for protesting the war in Vietnam while a drafted soldier. He placed fifth in the Mexico City Olympics, breaking several of his personal best records in the process. His career as a decathlete ended in 1972 when he severely injured his knee during a high jump.

Answer: Javelin

The second Gay Games in 1986 were also held in San Francisco and saw the number of competitors rise from 1,350 to over 3,500. Broadway star Jennifer Holliday of "Dreamgirls" fame, performed the closing ceremony.

Answer: Canada

The 1990 Gay Games were held in Vancouver, British Columbia and church groups from Fraser Valley posted their warnings in newspapers such as "The Province" and "Vancouver Sun". The games attracted international recognition for the first time as FINA (Federation Internationale Natation Association) sanctioned the swimming events and while the Vancouver residents welcomed the 7,000 plus athletes, the provincial government wasn't swayed by the "rainbow dollar" as they refused any funding for the games.

Answer: Greg Louganis

Louganis is considered the greatest diver in history and won gold at the 1984 Olympics in both the springboard and tower diving events. He repeated his double gold at the 1988 Olympics, even after hitting his head in the springboard preliminary rounds and suffering a concussion.

Although his sexuality had been discussed prior to the '94 Gay Games, he didn't come out publicly until the opening ceremony. 10,864 athletes took part in the games, meaning that the number of athletes surpassed that of the 1992 and 1996 Olympics which had 9,356 and 10,318 competitors respectively. Of the other answers, Fallon Fox is a transgender MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighter, Kwame Harris was a gay American footballer who played six seasons in the NFL (National Football League) and Orlando Jordan is a bisexual former WWE (World Wresting Entertainment) star.

Answer: Amsterdam

As the Gay Games reached a worldwide audience of sports lovers, major companies were queuing up to sponsor the event. Big names involved with the 1998 Games included Durex condoms, Speedo swimwear and Randstad consulting as well as the firms mentioned in the question.

The games lasted seven days and attracted 14,000 athletes as well as over a quarter of a million spectators from all corners of the globe.

Answer: Chicago

Other performers at the 2002 Games included Jody Watley, Andy Bell of Erasure, George Takei, Heather Small of M People and Cyndi Lauper who performed the closing ceremony. QTV broadcast the games and several major media companies provided sponsorship. The games were the first in the Gay Games history to make a profit and contributed an estimated $70 million to the local economy.

Answer: 99

Keeling, from Harlem USA did her first fun run aged 67 and was certainly bitten by the bug. In 2018, aged 103, she was the world record holder in two events in her age group and showing no signs of taking it easy. The 2014 Games were the first to attract sponsorship from multi nationals usually associated with the Olympics, such as Coca-Cola, United Airlines and Marriott Hotels as well as the United Church of Christ becoming the first religious denomination to provide major sponsorship. President Obama made an appearance via video link and Kinnon MacKinnon became the first openly transgender man to win gold when he triumphed in the powerlifting event.

Answer: Pétanque

France took gold in the Gay Games event and the game of pétanque is hugely popular in the country as well as being widely played in many other European countries. Boxing, fencing and kick boxing were also included for the first time at the games, for which Limerick, Ireland, London, England and Orlando, Florida all bid but were unsuccessful.

Answer: People

Waddell certainly lived life to the full as a gay activist, preventative medicine doctor, physician to the Saudi Arabian Olympic squad, paratrooper, decathlete and gold medal winning athlete. His personal life was also lived to the max, as following his relationship with Deaton, he fell in love with Zohn Artman, a fundraiser for the Gay Games and fathered a child with lesbian athlete Sara Lewinstein.

In his honour, a street and medical centre in San Francisco are named after him and at each Gay Games, one male and one female athlete are chosen to receive the highest award, "The Tom Waddell Award".