Sports
Sportin’ in D.C.
D.C. Aquatics Club has AIDS benefit race this weekend
District of Columbia Aquatics Club members at a recent charity swim. (Photo courtesy of Kevin Majoros)
Back in 1996, I was competing in triathlons in the Mid-Atlantic region and was cross training in multiple sports. A former swimming rival from Ohio, Paul Frentsos, told me about an LGBT swim team in D.C. called the District of Columbia Aquatics Club (DCAC). I ended up competing with them at the International Gay and Lesbian Aquatic (IGLA) Championships that year and have been a member ever since.
The team began in 1987 when a few of the members of the Washington Wetskins water polo team decided to compete in swimming as well as water polo at the IGLA Championships that year. DCAC is a member of both United States Masters Swimming (USMS), which boasts more than 42,000 master swimmers and IGLA. Over the years, DCAC has grown to become one of the largest masters swim teams in the Potomac Valley region with around 150 members. It consists of athletes who have never competed in a swim meet to world record holders.
Competitive swimmers compete in three different types of pools, short course yards (25 yards), short course meters (25 meters) and long course meters (50 meters). DCAC offers practices during the winter at the Takoma Aquatic Center, Marie Reed Recreation Center and Montgomery College. In the summer, it offers the opportunity for long course training at Haines Point.
To become a member of DCAC, you must first join U.S. Masters Swimming which is $37 per year. With that fee, you will receive Swimmer Magazine, the Swimmer’s Ear (a Potomac Valley publication), some minor accident insurance and the opportunity to compete in swim meets. The DCAC fees are $35 per year along with pool dues which are contingent on how often you train.
The group offers 90-minute practices six times per week. The practices, which are run by paid coaches, emphasize stroke technique, building strength, endurance and aerobic conditioning. The team itself is run entirely by swimmers who volunteer their time.
On Saturday, DCAC will host the 20th annual Maryland Swim for Life in Chestertown, MD. The event is sanctioned by United States Masters Swimming and will begin and end at Rolph’s Wharf on the Chester River. Athletes have the choice of competing in 1-, 2-, 3-, 4- or 5-mile open water races and must raise $100 to participate. Proceeds from the event benefit various small organizations that assist individuals and families affected by HIV/AIDS in the D.C. metropolitan area, along with the Chester River Association.
According to Wonkee Moon, co-race director, DCAC plans to welcome about 150 competitors from across the Mid-Atlantic region in hopes of raising $20,000 for local charities.
DCAC has hosted the Swim for Life event for 10 years and has helped raise over $200,000 during that time.
After they wrap up their open water event this weekend, the swimmers will be turning their efforts to the pool as they head to Honolulu where they will compete in the IGLA World Championships from July 6-10. DCAC is sending 42 swimmers who range in age from 23 to 68 and will be competing for the large team trophy.
DCAC won the large team trophy for the first time at the 1995 IGLA Championships in Montreal. Its swimmers continued to win the trophy awarded to the team amassing the most points in eight of the next 10 IGLA Championships where they were eligible for prize. Good luck to the globetrotting swimmers as they try to grab the IGLA Championships for the ninth time. More information on the team can be found at www.swimdcac.org.
More than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes are expected to compete in the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics that open on Friday.
Outsports.com notes eight Americans — including speedskater Conor McDermott-Mostowy and figure skater Amber Glenn — are among the 44 openly LGBTQ athletes who will compete in the games. The LGBTQ sports website also reports Ellis Lundholm, a mogul skier from Sweden, is the first openly transgender athlete to compete in any Winter Olympics.
“I’ve always been physically capable. That was never a question,” Glenn told Outsports.com. “It was always a mental and competence problem. It was internal battles for so long: when to lean into my strengths and when to work on my weaknesses, when to finally let myself portray the way I am off the ice on the ice. That really started when I came out publicly.”
McDermott-Mostowy is among the six athletes who have benefitted from the Out Athlete Fund, a group that has paid for their Olympics-related training and travel. The other beneficiaries are freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy, speed skater Brittany Bowe, snowboarder Maddy Schaffrick, alpine skier Breezy Johnson, and Paralympic Nordic skier Jake Adicoff.
Out Athlete Fund and Pride House Los Angeles – West Hollywood on Friday will host a free watch party for the opening ceremony.
“When athletes feel seen and accepted, they’re free to focus on their performance, not on hiding who they are,” Haley Caruso, vice president of the Out Athlete Fund’s board of directors, told the Los Angeles Blade.
Four Italian LGBTQ advocacy groups — Arcigay, CIG Arcigay Milano, Milano Pride, and Pride Sport Milano — have organized the games’ Pride House that will be located at the MEET Digital Culture Center in Milan.
Pride House on its website notes it will “host a diverse calendar of events and activities curated by associations, activists, and cultural organizations that share the values of Pride” during the games. These include an opening ceremony party at which Checcoro, Milan’s first LGBTQ chorus, will perform.
ILGA World, which is partnering with Pride House, is the co-sponsor of a Feb. 21 event that will focus on LGBTQ-inclusion in sports. Valentina Petrillo, a trans Paralympian, is among those will participate in a discussion that Simone Alliva, a journalist who writes for the Italian newspaper Domani, will moderate.
“The event explores inclusivity in sport — including amateur levels — with a focus on transgender people, highlighting the role of civil society, lived experiences, and the voices of athletes,” says Milano Pride on its website.
The games will take place against the backdrop of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s decision to ban trans women from competing in women’s sporting events.
President Donald Trump last February issued an executive order that bans trans women and girls from female sports teams in the U.S. A group of Republican lawmakers in response to the directive demanded the International Olympics Committee ban trans athletes from women’s athletic competitions.
The IOC in 2021 adopted its “Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations” that includes the following provisions:
• 3.1 Eligibility criteria should be established and implemented fairly and in a manner that does not systematically exclude athletes from competition based upon their gender identity, physical appearance and/or sex variations.
• 3.2 Provided they meet eligibility criteria that are consistent with principle 4 (“Fairness”, athletes should be allowed to compete in the category that best aligns with their self-determined gender identity.
• 3.3 Criteria to determine disproportionate competitive advantage may, at times, require testing of an athlete’s performance and physical capacity. However, no athlete should be subject to targeted testing because of, or aimed at determining, their sex, gender identity and/or sex variations.
The 2034 Winter Olympics are scheduled to take place in Salt Lake City. The 2028 Summer Olympics will occur in Los Angeles.
Sports
‘Heated Rivalry’ stars to participate in Olympic torch relay
Games to take place next month in Italy
“Heated Rivalry” stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie will participate in the Olympic torch relay ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics that will take place next month in Italy.
HBO Max, which distributes “Heated Rivalry” in the U.S., made the announcement on Thursday in a press release.
The games will take place in Milan and Cortina from Feb. 6-22. The HBO Max announcement did not specifically say when Williams and Storrie will participate in the torch relay.
The Washington Capitals will host Pride Night on Saturday, Jan. 17, when they host the Florida Panthers at Capital One Arena. A special ticket offer featuring a Pride-themed Capitals rainbow jersey is available at washcaps.com.
Fans are invited to a pre-game Block Party at District E beginning at 5 p.m. The event will feature a performance by the band NovaKane. Specialty happy hour food and beverages will be available, as well as giveaways. There will also be a presence by several local LGBTQ+ community organizations.
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