Olympian and Gay Games Organizer Dies at 49

Dr. Thomas Waddell, organizer of the Gay Olympics and a member of the U.S. Olympic decathlon team in 1968, died of complications related to AIDS on Saturday. He was 49.

Waddell died at his San Francisco home in the company of his wife, Sara Lewinstein. Waddell and Lewinstein met at the first Gay Olympics in 1981.

As president and founder of San Francisco Arts and Athletics, Waddell organized the sports competition for gays to help combat society’s anxiety toward homosexuals. Waddell, a physician, once said he hoped the sporting event would be a visual antidote to the stereotypical images of “men with lisps who cross their legs like women, mince down the street and have wrist drop.”

Waddell, who came in sixth in the decathlon in the 1968 games in Mexico City, blamed bathhouses, pornography outlets and sex boutiques for defining gay culture even though, in his view, they involved a minority of the gay community.

A second Gay Olympics was held last year in San Francisco and was called the Gay Games II. Almost 3,500 athletes from around the world attended. The next Gay Games are scheduled to take place in 1990. Waddell’s organization was forced to drop the word “Olympic” from the event’s title after the U.S. Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee sued.

“I’ve had an incredibly rich life. I don’t feel like I’ve been cheated. I competed in the Olympics, I got my MD, traveled all over the world, pursued a couple of dreams, saw them come to fruition, not the least of which is my daughter,” Waddell said last year in an interview with The Times.

Eric Rofes, a friend, said Waddell was a driven, but gentle man.

“Thomas was committed to showing that gay people are a very diverse people. His life served as a perfect example. This is a tremendous loss,” said Rofes, executive director of Hollywood’s Gay and Lesbian Service Community Center.

Waddell is survived by Lewinstein, their 4-year-old daughter, Jessica, and his parents. A private gathering is scheduled for Wednesday evening at his home.