The event is expected to be attended by more than 8,000 athletes from over 70 countries competing in nearly 40 events. 

The Assembly, which is to take place from tomorrow (October 5) until next Wednesday (October 9) in Cleveland, co-hosts with Akron in the 2014 Gay Games, will hear presentations from delegates from dozens of FGG member organisations, along with the FGG site inspectors who visited the three finalists' cities back in July.

Cyd Zeigler of Outsports.com was one of the three inspectors who spent nearly four days in each bidding city.

"It was rewarding meeting so many fantastic people who have put so much time and effort into bringing the Gay Games to their city," he said. 

"All of the bidding organisations were well-prepared and presented a strong ability to host the Gay Games.

"I'm looking forward to seeing them all again and presenting what I discovered to the Federation."

London 2018 is hoping that the success of last year's Olympics and Paralympics will help it defeat rivals Limerick and Paris

The group was led by Dave Killian, co-chair of the FGG Site Selection Committee.

"We've been doing competitive bidding for site selection since Gay Games IV, making this is our seventh cycle," he said.

"We try to learn from each edition of the Games, to make our selection process more thorough, more fair and transparent, and better suited at finding the best host for the Gay Games.

"We're all volunteers who devote a great deal of time and effort in this process because we have seen in our own lives how powerful the Gay Games can be."

Once all final questions and presentations have been completed it will be down to delegates from the FGG to make a final vote on who will host the 2018 Gay Games.

The announcement is due to be made between 5pm - 7pm at the Renaissance Hotel, the host hotel which is a platinum sponsor of the 2014 Games, which will also serve as the FGG host hotel for next year's Games, which is due to take place between August 9 and 16. 

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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