WorldPride/Stonewall50 Olympian Q&A

Bruce Hayes, Betsy Mitchell, and Daniel Kowalski, three former Olympic athletes and out & proud members of the LGBTQ+ community, will be telling their stories and answering your questions. Jeff Commings will be our moderator for the evening.

Bruce Hayes was the first Olympic swimmer to come out as gay. Bruce anchored the epic 1984 men’s 4x200 freestyle relay touching out Michael Gross and the West Germans while setting a new world record.

Betsy Mitchell was a three-time Olympic medalist from 1984 and 1988. She held the world record in the 200-meter backstroke for five years, and the U.S. record for the 200-meter backstroke for 19 years. Betsy also qualified for the World Championships in rowing in 1994.

Daniel Kowalski became the first swimmer in 92 years to medal in the 200-meter, 400-meter, and 1500-meter freestyle races in the same Olympics at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Jeff Commings will be our moderator for the evening. He is the former host of the “Morning Swim Show” and current host of the show “Deck Pass.”

This event is brought to you by Team New York Aquatics (TNYA) as part of the 2019 International Gay & Lesbian Aquatics Championships (IGLA 2019) in New York City for 2019 WorldPride/Stonewall50. For more information about TNYA and IGLA 2019, visit our website at: www.tnya.org