Melbourne swimmers go for gold in Antwerp
Melbourne’s LGBTI swimming club the Glamourhead Sharks have returned from the World Outgames in Antwerp with 17 medals under their belt, including eight gold.
The team’s stand-out performer was Kirk Goodsell, a program manager at Channel 31 and a part-time marriage celebrant, who won gold in each of his five races: the 200-metre individual medley, 200m freestyle, 200m butterfly, 100m butterfly and the 400m freestyle.
The other gold medals came from 76-year-old veteran swimmer John Mariott, who came first all three of his backstroke events, and won silver in the 100m freestyle.
Team coach Jack Dow told the Star Observer it meant a lot to the team to be able to compete at an international level.
“We’re restricted in Australia in that there’s only three gay and lesbian swim teams, so it’s good to be able to compete against a lot more teams, and they’re from across the globe,” Dow said.
“Each of our swimmers performed exceptionally well—we were a team of eleven, so I think we did pretty well considering our numbers.”
The World Outgames were held earlier this month in Antwerp, and saw a large contingent of Australian athlete achieves success across a range of sports.
Visit www.glamourheads.org for more information about the Glamourhead Sharks.
