Sports
Countdown to the Games
Baltimore’s Burley has basketball bronze

Gerard Burley is approaching his second Gay Games with a different attitude. (Photo by Kevin Majoros)
Editor’s note: Gerard Burley also writes a fitness column for Washington Blade.
Leading up to the 2010 Gay Games in Cologne, Gerard Burley was traveling through Europe working as a model and competing in a low-level professional basketball league.
Burley met up with his basketball teammates from the D.C. Sentinels in Cologne and together, they won a bronze medal. It was Burley’s first Gay Games and looking back on it, he says all his focus was on winning.
The D.C. Sentinels just wrapped up season two of the Washington, D.C. Gay Basketball League and used that momentum to claim the tournament title at the Coady Roundball Classic in Chicago earlier this month.
A Baltimore native, Burley’s sports background includes football, baseball and basketball. After competing on his high school’s baseball and basketball teams, he went on to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he played on the scrimmage team against the varsity players.
The path to becoming a formidable basketball player included some life lessons early on in Burley’s basketball career.
“One time at a game in high school, we lost 105 to 20,” says the 30-year old fitness coach. “It was horrible.”
A commissioner for the League, Burley remains dedicated to the sport of basketball for a number of reasons.
“I love being part of a team,” he says. “Also, basketball is a combination of so many skill sets such as quickness, strength and hand-foot coordination. It really keeps me motivated.”
In preparation for the 2014 Cleveland Gay Games this August, Burley will continue to play twice weekly with his Sentinel teammates and will include some additional training to be in peak form.
“I am also going to be competing in flag football at the Cleveland Games,” Burley says. “My extra preparation will focus on explosion training, biometric jumps and body work.”
Burley says he was wide-eyed at his first Gay Games in Cologne and he hopes to take in more of the overall experience this summer in Cleveland. His work as a fitness coach also shines through as he reflects on what he wants to accomplish in August.
“I have matured since the Cologne Games and plan to appreciate these Games more. My focus this time will be on meeting and enjoying people from all over the world. If you don’t win a medal but still have a six-pack at the end of it, then you have accomplished something, right? Plus, I am single this time so it’s game on.”
More than a dozen LGBTQ athletes won medals at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics that ended on Sunday.
Cayla Barnes, Hilary Knight, and Alex Carpenter are LGBTQ members of the U.S. women’s hockey team that won a gold medal after they defeated Canada in overtime. Knight the day before the Feb. 19 match proposed to her girlfriend, Brittany Bowe, an Olympic speed skater.
French ice dancer Guillaume Cizeron, who is gay, and his partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry won gold. American alpine skier Breezy Johnson, who is bisexual, won gold in the women’s downhill. Amber Glenn, who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, was part of the American figure skating team that won gold in the team event.
Swiss freestyle skier Mathilde Gremaud, who is in a relationship with Vali Höll, an Austrian mountain biker, won gold in women’s freeski slopestyle.
Bruce Mouat, who is the captain of the British curling team that won a silver medal, is gay. Six members of the Canadian women’s hockey team — Emily Clark, Erin Ambrose, Emerance Maschmeyer, Brianne Jenner, Laura Stacey, and Marie-Philip Poulin — that won silver are LGBTQ.
Swedish freestyle skier Sandra Naeslund, who is a lesbian, won a bronze medal in ski cross.
Belgian speed skater Tineke den Dulk, who is bisexual, was part of her country’s mixed 2000-meter relay that won bronze. Canadian ice dancer Paul Poirier, who is gay, and his partner, Piper Gilles, won bronze.
Laura Zimmermann, who is queer, is a member of the Swiss women’s hockey team that won bronze when they defeated Sweden.
Outsports.com notes all of the LGBTQ Olympians who competed at the games and who medaled.
Sports
US wins Olympic gold medal in women’s hockey
Team captain Hilary Knight proposed to girlfriend on Wednesday
The U.S. women’s hockey team on Thursday won a gold medal at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Team USA defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime. The game took place a day after Team USA captain Hilary Knight proposed to her girlfriend, Brittany Bowe, an Olympic speed skater.
Cayla Barnes and Alex Carpenter — Knight’s teammates — are also LGBTQ. They are among the more than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes who are competing in the games.
The Olympics will end on Sunday.
Sports
Attitude! French ice dancers nail ‘Vogue’ routine
Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry strike a pose in memorable Olympics performance
Madonna’s presence is being felt at the Olympic Games in Italy.
Guillaume Cizeron and his rhythm ice dancing partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry of France performed a flawless skate to Madonna’s “Vogue” and “Rescue Me” on Monday.
The duo scored an impressive 90.18 for their effort, the best score of the night.
“We’ve been working hard the whole season to get over 90, so it was nice to see the score on the screen,” Fournier Beaudry told Olympics.com. “But first of all, just coming out off the ice, we were very happy about what we delivered and the pleasure we had out there. With the energy of the crowd, it was really amazing.”
Watch the routine on YouTube here.
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