When Tammi began training, she could not finish one lap around the kiddie track because she was so stiff and out of breath. Tammi Boudreaux—Triathlon Kevin Taylor—Soccer Dirk Marshall and Dean Putterman—Swimming

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This month, a corps of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender athletes from the Houston area will compete on the international stage at the Gay Games VII Sports and Cultural Festival in Chicago and at the 1st World Outgames in Montreal. (The backstory: The Gay Games were originally set for Montreal, but after a financial spat, the organizers decamped and relocated to Illinois. Meanwhile, back in Quebec, the Canadians decided to hold their games, preceded by the International Conference on LGBT Human Rights.)

Thousands of athletes will participate in the two events. At both, they will experience major star power: The Gay Games opening ceremonies feature Andy Bell, Margaret Cho, Kate Clinton, Megan Mullally, Holly Near, Suzanne Westenhoefer, and others. In Montreal, k.d. lang and Martha Wash, and Cirque du Soleil kick off the Outgames with sports celebrities Martina Navratilova and Olympic medalist Mark Tewksbury. The headliner for the Outgames closing ceremonies: Liza Minnelli.

Some local competitors will travel to Chicago (July 15-22, www.gaygameschicago.org), others to Montreal (July 29-August 5, www.montreal2006.org). A few hardy athletes will hit both cities. As they prepared for their big games, our photographer John Conroy created portraits of several of the jocks from here.

(See complete list of OutSmart athlete profiles.)
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TAMMI BOUDREAUX

Ever since Tammy Boudreaux was young, she dreamed of competing on a big stage. But that dream had remained buried for years after the 35-year-old social worker and MBA student quit competing in group athletics after high school. After years of hibernation and poor eating habits, in 2006 Boudreaux joined the Leukemia & Lymphoma society's Team in Training, a group that trains athletes to compete in triathlons, marathons, or 100-mile cycling events.

"In return, the athletes raise money for cancer patients and research -- synergy at its finest!" Boudreaux says.

When she began training, she could not finish one lap around the kiddie track because she was so stiff and out of breath, she says. But after six weeks of training, she was able to complete her first-ever 10K, a feat that gave her a huge boost of confidence. This past Memorial Day she finished her first-ever Olympic-distance triathlon in Austin with a time of three hours and ten minutes.

Boudreaux decided to compete this year in her first Gay Games in the cycling and triathlon events after reading an article about a triathlete in Out magazine. "After reading the article, I researched the Gay Games and was surprised to learn that anybody who wants to participate, can. No qualifying times exist," she says. "I thought to myself, This is a fantastic opportunity to realize a dream I thought was long dead and gone.

"An added bonus is that I have always wanted to visit Chicago, so I thought I would check two things off my 'To-Do List of Life' at once."

Her goal in Chicago is pretty realistic, she says. Whether she wins a medal or not, she hopes simply to finish the course and enjoy the experience.

"I will be laughing and smiling as most athletes pass me by," Boudreaux says. "Being a 35-year-old, average person, I realize this is the grandest stage on which I will ever have the opportunity to compete."

Boudreaux says the best thing about training is the weight loss the regimen has afforded her. "And the rush of endorphins keep me confident," she says.

The worst thing? "Cycling into a 30-mph headwind on a rural road in Nowhere, Texas, and the cows are moving faster than I am." -- Nancy Ford
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KEVIN TAYLOR

Soccer player Kevin Taylor's start in the Gay Games 20 years ago didn't require fancy footwork: It called for a different kind of technique.

Taylor, 40, played saxophone in the Houston Pride Band at the Gay Games before joining the list of athletes at the event.

His partner, Michael Moore, introduced him to soccer in 1994, and he has been playing since. He splits his time between the sport and his role as a board member of the Gay and Lesbian Bands Association.

Taylor has played soccer at the Gay Games twice before, and been a part of the assembled band four times. He will be joining four people from the team he and his partner formed in Dallas for the event. Taylor's team won the silver medal in Amsterdam, and he enjoys the change of scenery that comes with different locations.

"The Gay Games is different every time because you're in different places," he says. "It's fun, and I've gotten to know a lot of people over the years from it."

Taylor touts the health and social benefits of soccer, and says sports create bonds that very few group activities do. "A lot of the very close friends I have I've gotten from soccer," he says. "And it's kept me in shape over the years." -- Josef Molnar
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DIRK MARSHALL

Dirk Marshall says his love of swimming may have spoiled him to the realities of being a lawyer. After graduating from Harvard, where he won a national title in the 100-yard butterfly in 1989, he went to work.

"I lasted about seven months as a lawyer," he says. "I took the bar [exam], went to work for a firm, and just decided to quit. I didn't like just doing one thing all day long, all week long. I was used to swimming, where you have the ebb and flow of the season to give you a change of pace."

As in 1984 and 1988, Marshall, now 43, qualified for the 1992 Olympics trials, but decided that work was more important, and now works around the Houston area with his partner Nick Peterson's Tumble Tykes preschool gymnastics business, where he says children learn that sports can be fun before they learn about competition.

"I have more fun with kids and the amateur aspect, and getting them to that level and passing them onto somebody else [to train]," he says.

But his love of swimming drew him back to the water. After a brief hiatus, Marshall returned to swimming at the encouragement of his partner and now competes a few  times a year in various events -- including the International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics championships, which are part of the Gay Games this year. He also coaches masters swim classes at the downtown YMCA.

"I walked away from swimming and said I would never compete again, but this is world-class swimming with none of the drawbacks," he says.

He says that, contrary to what many might think, older swimmers in the masters swim classes are not hampered by their age.

"We have people [in their 30s and 40s] who are swimming as well as they did in their 20s," he says. "One of nice things about masters swimming is that people are pushing the boundaries of what they can do." -- J.M.
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DEAN PUTTERMAN

At 32, Dean Putterman decided to swim at his first Gay Games in 1994. Although he wasn't out to anyone outside of his circle of friends and family, he didn't consider it an issue.

"I thought, It's a gay event. Why would they be interested in that?" he says.

Until he broke the world record for his age category: 29.3 seconds in the 50-meter breaststroke. He was one of 10 gay people in swimming to break records that year in the Gay Games, and the newspapers went crazy. He was an openly gay athletic hero, and he was instantly accepted by others.

"It did so much for my self-confidence," he says. "It was in the paper that I'd broken a world record at a gay type of event."

He broke his own record two years later, and in 2004 another openly gay swimmer, Jeff Cummings, broke the record.

"I held that record for 10 years," he says. "The gay press still talks about it."

Now 44, Putterman will compete in the 50-, 100-, and 200-meter breaststroke, the 50-meter butterfly, and 100-meter individual medley. Will there be another record this year? Maybe. Putterman, who placed number one in the country in four national events last year, says his 34-year competitive streak in the water has not ended yet. He added that competition is different now than when he was younger.

"You have to enjoy it," he says, "because although so many factors influence whether you do it as a kid, that's not the case as an adult.

"You're never too old to be the best you can be. I'm not too far off from what I was 28 years ago." -- J.M.
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Part One
Tammi Boudreaux—Triathlon
Kevin Taylor—Soccer
Dirk Marshall—Swimming
Dean Putterman—Swimming

Part Two
Scottie Scott—Badmitten
Jennifer Buchanan and Debbie Stoors—Dance
Anthony Bristol and Sean Theriault—Tennis
Carlo Deason—Track

Part Three
Mike Jernigan and Gaard Egeland—Sand Volleyball
Gary Grier—Volleyball
Hana Michelle Pinard—Cycling
David Felton and Roy Bantigue—Bowling

Part Four
Raul Martinez—Track
Keith Peters—Rollerblading
Greg Killips—Billiards
Keith Wright—Cycling

Part Five
Two local men lead cultural aspects of Gay Games VII: Russell Ben Williams and James Knapp. Plus Music of the Gay Games.