Joy Sutton sporting gold Just a year after beginning ice skating lessons, Joy Sutton has glided to two gold medals at Gay Games Cologne. Sutton competed in the Solo Creative Free Skate and the Solo Spotlight, both at novice level. Describing herself as a lifetime athlete but a new skater, the Kerikeri resident has previously been an elite cyclist on both the road and velodrome, racing in the women's road world cups and grand tours. She even held a road world championship title for women in her age group several years ago. "Due to various schedule conflicts, I never got around to competing in the Gay Games. I knew Cologne would be fabulous, and decided to go to Cologne this time last year. But I had no enthusiasm for getting back on my bicycle and training on dangerous Far North highways," Sutton says. "I also thought that with my elite background in the sport, it would be contrary to the spirit of Gay Games for me to compete as a cyclist again." Sutton figured ice skating was about as far from cycling as she could get. "There is an athletic side to the sport, but it also is about music, performance, costume, and all the skills associated with live theatre or dance." Last August she started taking skating lessons in Auckland. "I had to deal with the embarrassment of watching primary school children skate far better than I ever will be able to do, but after a year of coaching, my skills are respectable for a first year adult student." Her free skate in Cologne was to the music of the Flower Duet by Lakme, the track which featured in the Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon seduction scene in The Hunger, as well as a Bette and Alice sex scene in The L Word. Sutton says her second skate was more 'campy fun', as the solo spotlight category is less about technical skills and more about entertainment. "I put on my vamp attitude and skated to a recording of my own vocal cover of Bad Things from True Blood while wearing a corset and carrying a whip and handcuffs," she says. Sutton says in her "perfectionist, self-critical opinion" she could have technically skated better, but the judges and audience loved it. In fact they were so impressed with her Bad Things performance she was invited to perform an encore at the ice show, which she says was incredible. "The other skaters, many of them ice professionals who have been skating since aged three, could not have been more lovely to me. Now I have the gay skating bug and have joined the International Gay Figure Skating Union," she says. "Every year they put on a competition and show called Fabulous Cup in Cologne. I can't wait to go back. My only regret is that I don't have a pairs partner in NZ. Maybe I can motivate someone else in our community to give this fabulous sport a go." Gay Games Cologne has come to a close in a ceremony attended by 10,000 people. Vice Mayor Elfi Sho-Antwerpes thanked all the participants for coming to Cologne, the flame was extinguished and the flag of the Federation of Gay Games was handed over to the hosts of the Gay Games Cleveland 2014. Watch a video of Joy Sutton's Solo Creative Free Skate at Gay Games Cologne below.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 9th August 2010 - 5:17pm