Sports
Swimming for D.C., living elsewhere
Meet 3 DC Aquatics athletes who reside far from here
Matt Kinney, Craig Franz and Jay Calhoun swim for DC Aquatics but live far away from here. (Calhoun photo by Kevin Majoros; Kinney, Franz photos courtesy the subjects)
At the beginning of this year, Michael Phelps left his home in Baltimore and began training in the Phoenix area. The move was a result of his coach, Bob Bowman, moving there to take on the head coaching position at Arizona State University. Phelps had done the same thing in the years leading up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics when Bowman was coaching at the University of Michigan.
US Swimming has a mandate that swimmers must compete under the banner of a registered club or swim unattached. All throughout the lead up to the 2016 Rio Olympics, Phelps continued to swim in competitions representing his home club of North Baltimore Aquatic Club even though he was training in Phoenix.
The same is true in US Masters Swimming that a swimmer can train anywhere in the world and yet represent the club of their choice. It is also the case in other masterās sports such as soccer, basketball and water polo. When the local LGBT sports teams from D.C. travel to tournaments across the globe they are often joined by athletes who don’t train with them though they compete with them as teammates.
Swimming is one of those sports that are both individual and team based. A swimmer is allowed to compete unattached from a team but that would preclude them from being able to participate in relays or earn points in team competitions.
Meet three gay swimmers who live and train in different parts of the world and represent the LGBT-based District of Columbia Aquatics Club in national and international competitions. All three have won gold medals at the Gay Games and the IGLA World Championships with their D.C. teammates.
For Matt Kinney, the bond with DC Aquatics is unbreakable and when other teams have tried to recruit him in the past, he has politely declined. His connection to the team began after he moved to the area in 1995 to accept a swim coach position at University of Mary Washington.
“I didn’t know much about masters swimming at that point,” says Kinney. “I had been training all along so I figured I might as well compete.”
Growing up in Canton, Ohio, Kinney was a wrestler until an injury forced him out of the sport. He began swimming in his sophomore year of high school. He swam in college at Case Western Reserve University and continued in collegiate swimming after he transferred to Kenyon College. He received his graduate degree in sports management from Western Illinois University before accepting the coaching position at Mary Washington.
“I was a young gay man when I arrived in the D.C. area and it was a very influential time for me,” Kinney says. “DC Aquatics is my family and those relationships will last a lifetime. It was a wonderful experience and nice to have that commonality.”
In 2007, Kinney accepted the head coaching position of the men’s and women’s swim teams at Carnegie Mellon University. Instead of joining a Pittsburgh team or swimming unattached, he continues to represent DC Aquatics in competitions.
“My allegiance to the team is strong and I can’t get my head around competing for anyone else,” says Kinney. It’s like being an age grouper again where you are perpetually on the same relays with the same teammates.”
Craig Franz grew up in Baltimore and though he stayed athletically active, he was never part of a team. He received degrees from Bucknell University, La Salle University and Drexel University along with his doctorate from the University of Rhode Island. He was swimming laps at a pool in Peace Dale, R.I., in 2007 when a coach noticed his abilities and recruited him to the masterās team.
He began competing in the pool with the team and also found himself drawn to the teammates who were training for open water swimming. He moved to D.C. the following year and joined DC Aquatics.
“DC Aquatics is a group of talented, bright, enthusiastic and athletically inclined individualsĀ who come together to better themselves,'” says Franz. “It’s a very supportive and positive atmosphere.”
Franz moved to Rome, Italy, in 2011 where he works in fundraising and development of schools and health clinics in forgotten areas of the world. He also chose to remain tied to DC Aquatics and has traveled the world with them including stops in Cologne, Seattle, Cleveland and Stockholm. Just last week he joined his teammates in Edmonton for the IGLA World Championships. He has also become an avid open water competitor.
“I try to fill every weekend in Italy with open water swims or races,” Franz says. “I am a marine biologist by trade and I love being out in open water swimming long distances. I embrace pushing myself physically, mentally and spiritually.”
Franz has taken several months off over the past few years and has traveled around the world training and competing in 25 different cities. The open water trek included swims in multiple major bodies of water including the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, the Adriatic Sea and the Caribbean. Franz has the best of both worlds when he segues from the solitary nature of open water swimming to the atmosphere of being on a team.
“I really enjoy the time we spend at swim meets and the fascinating conversations with my teammates who come from all types of workplaces,” says Franz. “Our connection through sports allows us to speak the same language and share the same history.”
Jay Calhoun had always feltĀ like he was missing out by not being part of a team. He was training with the straight-based Southern California Aquatics but was competing at LGBT swim meets as an unattached competitor. The SoCal training group is 800 strong but most of the swimmers do not compete. Over the years he has periodically reached out to California LGBT teams only to run into attitudes and drama.
“I finally gave up on finding a good team match here and reached out to DC Aquatics because I had a friend on the team,” says Calhoun. “My first meet with them was the 2014 Gay Games in Cleveland and I have never swum with a group of people who couldnāt care less about personalities and problems. After two meets with them, I can say that I have never been this engaged with teammates.”
Calhoun began swimming competitively at age eight and his father’s job moved the family from Colorado to Maryland to California. He competed with the University of Colorado at Boulder while earning his degree in economics and environmental design. He is now living in Los Angeles and working as a florist.
At that first meet in Cleveland, Calhoun won over his DC Aquatics teammates with his quick wit and engaging banter between races. His first chance to cement his status as a teammate came when he anchored the 800 freestyle relay in a come-from-behind swim that won the Gay Games gold medal for him and his fellow teammates.
For many swimmers, the thrill of having a relay victory is something that can’t be matched by a good individual swim. Calhoun made the most of finally getting that opportunity. That relay included Matt Kinney and their time ranked them third in the United States in their age group.
“It was an awesome experience,” says Calhoun. “I swam my little heart out.”
Just like fellow DC Aquatics swimmer Craig Franz, Calhoun has also found success in open water swimming and he competes in races along the California coast. Calhoun made the trek to Stockholm last year for the EuroGames with his new teammates and will join them again at the Sin City Shootout in Vegas and/or the upcoming World Out Games in Miami next year.
“Swimming puts balance in my life and helps me control my angst,” Calhoun says. “I am really enjoying being a part of this convivial and cohesive adult team.”
Sports
JK Rowling condemns history-making transgender Paralympian
Valentina Petrillo will race again Friday after failing to qualify in 400m final
Valentina Petrillo ran her personal best Monday at the Paralympics in Paris, but it was not enough to qualify for Tuesdayās finals in the 400m T12 competition. Losing to two cisgender women was also not enough to quell a social media firestorm of transphobia and hate directed at the first out trans Paralympian runner.
Hajar Safarzadeh Ghahderijani of Iran was first across the finish line, followed by Venezuelaās Alejandra Perez. Petrillo, the Italian sprinter, finished third with 57.58.
āI tried until the end, I couldnāt do it,ā Petrillo, 51, told reporters after the race. āI missed that last straight. I pushed harder than this morning and I tried. They are stronger than me. There is nothing I can do. I had to do 56 to get into the final. Itās impossible, 57.58. I have to be happy even though Iām a little upset.ā
Petrillo also spoke indirectly about haters, but what concerned her most, she said, was the perspective of her son, 9-year-old Lorenzo, who calls her āDad.ā
āI hope my son is proud of me,ā Petrillo, said, amid tears. āThatās important to me because Iām a trans dad, itās not everyoneās dream dad. But I hope he will be proud of me. I hope he will always stand by me, I hope that he loves me even if I am like this. I canāt help it if Iām like this, Iām sorry. Donāt treat trans people badly. We suffer. Itās not fair. We donāt hurt anybody.ā
JK Rowling disagrees.
In a social media post on what was Twitter, the outspoken opponent of trans rights and inclusion denounced Petrillo as an āout and proud cheat.ā
Why all the anger about the inspirational Petrillo? The cheat community has never had this kind of visibility! Out and proud cheats like Petrillo prove the era of cheat-shaming is over. What a role model! I say we give Lance Armstrong his medals back and move on. #Cheats #NoShame pic.twitter.com/bvqhs3DexI
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 2, 2024
Others condemned Petrillo as a āpervert,ā a ādisgraceā and of course, a man, and a ābiological maleā who ārobbed a young disabled womanā of her chance to compete.Ā
šØBREAKINGšØ
A biologically male runner has just qualified for the Women's 400m T12 semi-finals at the Paris Paralympic Games.
Valentina Petrillo, a father of two, previously won 11 national titles in the men's category before beginning to identify as a "woman." pic.twitter.com/7CqLuFD8dB
— REDUXX (@ReduxxMag) September 2, 2024
The 50-year-old Italian transgender athlete Valentina Petrillo robbed a young disabled woman from a spot in the semifinals of the Paris Paralympics today
Petrillo has previously said that those who don't want Petrillo to compete against females are "on the same level as Hitler." pic.twitter.com/DLU2hxWEVD
— VisegrĆ”d 24 (@visegrad24) September 2, 2024
Petrillo has one more chance to compete for a medal this Friday in the 200m T12 visual impairment competition. Sheāll compete against Katrin Mueller-Rottgardt of Germany.
āBasically, everyone should live how they like in everyday life,ā Mueller-Rottgardt told the German tabloid Bild. āBut I find it difficult in professional sports. She lived and trained for a long time as a man, so thereās a possibility that physical conditions are different than for someone who comes into the world as a woman. So, she could have advantages from it.ā
For her part, Petrillo is not letting detractors stop her from running as the woman she is and living as the woman she is.
āThere are lots of people dying only for being trans, people are killed because they are trans, people commit suicide because they are trans and lose their jobs, or are not included in sport,ā she said. āBut I made it. If I can make it, everyone can make it.ā
As for so-called āadvantages,” Petrillo cites a study funded by the IOC ā and published in April in the British Journal of Sports Medicine ā showing that trans women are actually at a physical disadvantage compared to cis women across several areas, including lung function and lower body strength.
āThis means rather that I have a disadvantage, because apart from anything else, going through hormonal treatment means I am going against my body so against the biology of my body and thatās certainly something thatās not good for it,ā Petrillo told the Associated Press in an interview in a suburb of Bologna, where she lives and works in the IT sector.
She was diagnosed with Stargardt disease, a degenerative eye condition, at the age of 14, and can only see 1/50thĀ of what most people can. Petrillo cannot drive and uses public transportation to get around, and told me in aĀ 2020 podcast interview thatĀ the trauma of her disability has haunted her all her years.
āI tried to lead a normal life as much as possible,ā she said through a translator.Ā Ā
Although her condition forced her to give up running as a teen, she picked it up again in her 40s, telling me it felt empowering, āKnowing I have two good legs,ā she said. āRunning is life.ā
But it was not enough. Petrillo, who was raised as a boy, had been keeping a secret since she was a child, saying that even at age seven, she knew who she was. āI didnāt feel like myself.ā
āI decided to transition after years of fighting myself and not understanding what was the problem,ā Petrillo said. āIt was a very difficult decision.ā
Petrillo came out to her wife, Elena, in 2017, just one year after they wed. With Elenaās support, she transitioned in 2018 and started her medical transition the following January. They remained married, for a time, and have another child in addition to Lorenzo. āMy wife is very supportive,ā Petrillo told me in 2020. ā99 percent of the stories end up in divorce, but my wife is the most important love of my life.ā
Elena and Valentina have since divorced but remain friends. She and Lorenzo and Petrilloās brother, Francesco, were in Paris to cheer her on.
āFamily is everything,ā she said this week.Ā
Petrillo won 11 national competitions in the male T12 category between 2015 and 2018, then won gold in her first official race as the woman she is, in the 100m, 200m and 400m T12 events at the 2020 Italian Paralympics Championship. Last year, she won two bronzes at the World Para Athletics Championships.
In that competition, she narrowly beat Melani Berges of Spain, who placed fourth in the semifinal. That meant Berges didnāt qualify for the final and missed her chance to make it to the Paralympics.
Calling it an āinjustice,ā Berges told Spanish sports site Relevo that she āaccepts and respectsā trans people, but āwe are no longer talking about daily life, we are talking about sport, which requires strength, a physique.ā
The International Paralympic Committee says it āwelcomesā Petrillo, who is not the first out trans Paralympian. That honor belongs to Dutch discus thrower Ingrid van Kranen, who finished ninth in the 2016 Rio Games. The rules of the World Para Athletics organization state a person who is legally recognized as a woman is eligible to compete in female categories. She legally changed her name and gender in 2023.
Back in 2020, Petrillo told me the 200m race she will compete in this Friday is her favorite, because of the performance of her personal hero, 1980 Olympic champion Pietro Mennea, who holds Italyās world record in the event.Ā
āIām dreaming about this,ā she said, recalling the memory of seeing him compete when she was seven years old. āThe determination that Mennea showed was something he taught all of us. That is how I feel when I am running. That same determination and that same drive.ā And she said again, āRunning is life.ā
Enjoy world-class soccer at Audi Field and celebrate United Night Out on Aug. 24. Bring your friends and family for an evening full of fun and inclusivity. Experience the thrill of the crowd at Audi Field, have some delicious food at the concessions, and cheer on DC United as they take on Dallas FC.Ā Visit D.C. Unitedās website for tickets.
DC United will host the 13th annual āPride Night Outā on Saturday, Aug. 24 at 7:30 p.m.
There will be a special tailgate in Heineken Hall at 6 p.m., providing exclusive giveaways and swag. When purchasing tickets, please use the same email used for your Ticketmaster account, and your tickets will be transferred. Proceeds from the ticket sales will go to Federal Triangles Soccer Club and Team DC.
Tickets start at $41 and can be purchased on DC Unitedās website.
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