Here in San Francisco
Where the Games Began

History of the Gay Games
The Gay Olympic Games were conceived in 1980 by former Olympic Decathalete Dr. Tom Waddell to encourage athletic participation by gay men and lesbians, many of whom had felt marginalized from sports.

Dr. Waddell sought to promote the pride and self respect of gay men and lesbians everywhere. It was that desire that led him to organize the first Gay Olympic Games (later changed to the "Gay Games") in 1982 and Gay Games II in 1986, both held in San Francisco.

To help organize the first event of its kind, Dr. Waddell formed San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. to help organize the Gay Olympics Games in the Bay Area. This organization eventually became the international Federation of Gay Games. Locally, SFAA became Team San Francisco.

Team San Francisco was formed in 1987 in preparation for Gay Games III, which would be held in 1990, outside of San Francisco for the first time, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Team SF was the largest team in attendance, with over 600 Bay Area athletes participating.

Dr. Waddell worked through athletics to educate people about who gay men and lesbians are, both inside and outside the community. Dr. Tom Waddell died of AIDS in July 1987, but his legacy lives on. By 1990, the Gay Games had grown to became the second largest international multi-sport event in the world (second only to the Summer Olympic Games and larger than the Goodwill Games) with 7,500 athletes participating in 23 sports.

The 1994 Gay Games in New York City had 10,864 athletes participating. An estimated one million people went to spectate, compete, or take part in cultural events. A total of 35 national and world age group records were broken by athletes at these Games. Over 2,000 journalists were on hand for Gay Games IV, and over 50 articles appeared in the New York Times alone. During the closing ceremonies athletes wearing their team'sdistinctive uniform, marched into a capacity filled Yankee Stadium. There, they celebrated the triumph of this spectacular event with music from Patti LaBelle, Cindy Lauper, Crystal Waters and entertainment by a number of other well known celebrities.

The Federation of Gay Games has a 55-member, all-volunteer Board of Directors representing local teams and sport organizations from around the globe. As the governing body of the Gay Games, the Federation exists to ensure that there will always be a quadrennial Gay Games, and that each Games is guided by the founding principles of inclusion, participation, and pursuit of one's personal best.

In 1998, more than 15,000 participants and 250,000 spectators attended Gay Games V in Amsterdam. Thirty official sports and six exhibition sports were included, along with a cultural program that showed the depth of talent and creativity in gay and lesbian communities worldwide.

As the home city of the Gay Games, tradition holds that Team San Francisco is the first contingent to march into the stadium for the Gay Games Opening Ceremonies.

In 2002, over 1,000 athletes from the San Francisco Bay Area attended the Sydney 2002 Gay Games VI. This represented one-quarter of the United States' contingent. At the last two Gay Games, Team San Francisco represented 12% of the participants at the events!!

Having been formed from San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc., Team San Francisco works as a sister organization to the Federation of Gay Games, and holds two voting seats on the Federation Board of Directors.

Team San Francisco (Team SF) is a California registered non-profit volunteer organization that provides information and support to individual athletes and sports organizations within the gay and lesbian community. TSF provides a local sports network and helps coordinate participation in the Gay Games. Since its incorporation in 1987, TSF has helped facilitate travel, housing, and uniforms for hundreds of athletes attending Gay Games III in Vancouver (1990), Gay Games IV in New York City (1994), Gay Games V in Amsterdam (1998), and Gay Games VI in Sydney (2002). Plans are underway to send our athletes to the Chicago 2006 Gay Games VII next year.

TSF promotes athletic participation at all levels in the spirit of the Gay Games-- participation,inclusion, and the pursuit of one's personal best.

And while we no longer publish a print version of our newsletter, you can see an example created just prior to the Sydney 2002 Gay Games VI at the link : FALL 2002 NEWSLETTER (296 KB PDF file)

Questions?
e-mail us at: info@teamsf.org