Stonewall Fitness: Gay Games 9: Ready to #GOALLOUT! (Part 1)

By David Smith

This past week I had the upmost pleasure of competing at Gay Games 9 in Cleveland, OH. The Gay Games is the largest multi-sport event held outside of the Olympic Games drawing in thousands of athletes, volunteers, participants and spectators from around the world for a week of friendly competition and performance. What sets the Gay Games apart is the emphasis on inclusion and participation. You don’t have to be gay to participate. Many people from all sexual orientations, gender identities, races, countries, ages and backgrounds all come out to participate. For the competition, for the challenge, for parties, for the hospitality even just to have a week to be able to openly celebrate who you are and whom you love without the fear, abuse, discrimination or hate that is so often seen in countries from around the world.

4 years ago I competed in my first Gay Games, 2010 in Cologne, Germany and I consider that experience as one of the most profound, life changing experiences of my life. Having only gotten back into swimming for 2 years I suddenly thrust myself from small, local swim meets to the world stage. Never even been out of the country and suddenly I found myself in a new culture, new city and surrounding by all these amazing athletes taking part of such a big event. Coming off of that experience I had already begun looking forward to the 2014 Gay Games in Cleveland, in the past 4 years I have continued to grow and evolve as an individual, athlete and professional. However it still hadn’t quite hit me just how fast the 2014 Gay Games were coming but I knew that I wanted to make it big and truly be apart of it as much as I could. Having high expectations the games and myself following Cologne, I took every opportunity I could to share my experience and my story. I chose with the Gay Games themselves to inspire and encourage other people sign up and participate on their own levels. I even started a business as my vehicle to help bring people together in the LGBT community with exercise, athletes and fitness in the spirit of the games.

2010 Gay Games in Cologne, Germany

When I returned from Germany I had 6 medals in my hand from swimming. I had many fast swims and personal bests however my age group was not very competitive and so several of my medals were simply won by default. However leading up to Cleveland I aged up and knew my new age group would be much more competitive. I swum an LGBT swim meet in 2013 in Seattle, not having trained hard for that meet I had a solid reminder of just how competitive it can be, placing off the podium in all but one of my events and I left Seattle with a sense of disappointment in myself. I wondered just where all that motivation I had in Germany had gone? Of course this was not acceptable to me so I decided that come Cleveland I would be ready and know in myself that no matter what happened, I would come home feeling proud and accomplished in myself.

At that moment I really begun to train hard, pushing my limits each and every day to levels higher than I have ever pushed before. People were calling me crazy and couldn’t understand how or why I would put myself through so much abuse! However I knew what I had to do and that if I truly wanted to accomplish my goals at Gay Games and get even closer to my goal of competing at the Olympic Games than I would have to really step it up.


As the Gay Games drew closer I really stepped up my efforts to promote the games as well, knowing that my experience in Germany as a Gay Games virgin awaited so many people who are on the verge of greatness. In Cleveland I realized that the Gay Games are a thing, I mean a real thing. I didn’t think too much of that in Germany but seeing several Gay Games virgin, many whom I helped encouraged to come, seeing their faces and listening to their experiences. I knew in my heart that we truly are apart of something great.
2014 USMS Spring Nationals I stepped up my competition season in the spring and really wanted to get as many races possible in as I could in preparation. Runs, Duathlons, Triathlons and Swim Meets were the defining moments of April, May and June and I had gotten my first taste of serious competition when I found myself with a sponsor (Thanks Josh Hunt at Trelora) for the USMS Spring Nationals in Santa Clara, California! The opportunity for nationals like that fell into my lap pretty quick and unfortunately I hadn’t had time to really adapt my training schedule for it. I was not able to taper for the meet very well but I still went in ready to push some limits. The swim meet was huge and brought in thousands of swimmers from all over the country! It was truly an amazing experience to take part in however I was not fully prepared for it and ended up leaving disappointed in myself again knowing I could have swum stronger and faster than I did.

The summer leading up to the Games I really stepped up my training, to the point of neglect in other parts of my life, particularly my social life because I did not want to leave Cleveland with the same feelings as when I left Seattle or Santa Clara. I wanted this Gay Games to be even bigger for me than the 2010 Games and so I pushed myself so hard to be ready for it. I set my goals high and my expectations even higher, I wasn’t coming to Cleveland to disappoint. So many people and friends really gave me a lot of support. From helping me pay for the trip, sponsoring me, helping me buy equipment, supporting Stonewall Fitness or even just being there when I needed someone to vent too I certainly didn’t want to let anybody down, or most importantly let myself down.