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Queer athletes with Olympic dreams received an early spotlight in 1982’s ‘Personal Best’
Welcome back to our queer film retrospective, “A Gay Old Time.” In this week’s column, in the spirit of the Olympics, we’re revisiting 1982’s sapphic sports classic Personal Best.Happy 2024 Olympics! As we continue to ignore our work duties and focus all of our attention on the world’s best competing for medals—especially in a year with more LGBTQ+ representation (and controversies) than ever—this week we’ll look back at a film that centered the Olympic dreams of young athletes at a time when identity proved to be their biggest hurdle.There’s a long and complicated history of LGBTQ+ people in the Olympic games, and in professional sports in general. Although now we can root for plenty of out athletes competing, earning medals, and setting records around the globe, the sports world has historically been one of tradition and oppression.