GayGames, Cologne: It’s a wrap

GayCities Europe editor Paul Brummitt is at the GayGames in Cologne, where he competed in the triathlon and blogged and photographing all week. This is his final post.

As the GayGames drew to a close, a few traditions just had to be honored, especially Pink Flamingo, where swim teams compete to provide the campiest show.

It’s hysterical fun in the sun. Four teams entered under the theme of “Carneval in Kölle”–loosely translated as Mardi Gras in Cologne. Every February Cologne hosts the biggest party of the year where even the straightest men get to do drag without fear of ridicule. This is the gay version of straight male drag, if you can picture it.

A local drag queen hosted the proceedings and San Francisco, New York, London and Paris showed us all their creative outfits, routines. In the case of the Americans, athletes showed an intimate knowledge of German Eurovision music–something which most of us Europeans didn’t realize had crossed the Atlantic.

London produced a great show with rainbow colored balloons holding up Carnival Virgins as they floated across the pool. But it was the synchronized swimmers from Paris fresh from yesterday’s medals who took first prize with a fantastic combination of French chanson and German “Schlagermusik.”

So now all we have to do is wait patiently for the next greatest show on earth: Antwerp 2013 and Cleveland 2014. Bring it on!

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