‘Drag Race’ queen wins World Masters silver medal in artistic swimming
In April, Gia Metric competed in artistic swimming for the first time. Now she’s just medaled at the World Aquatics Masters Championships in Singapore. The post ‘Drag Race’ queen wins World Masters silver medal in artistic swimming appeared first on Outsports.
Mark
Gia Metric is too modest to accept the tag of trailblazer, but there’s immense pride in having achieved an accolade on the international sports stage.
Gia, who was a top-four queen on the second season of “Canada’s Drag Race,” has recently returned to Vancouver from Singapore, having been a runner-up at the World Aquatics Masters Championships.
Out of drag, Gia is Giorgio Triberio, and he only started training in artistic swimming last year. In fact, he hadn’t taken part in any sports since his days playing high-school volleyball.
However, drawing upon his drag and performance skills, he took to the synchro pool like a duck (walk?) to water. After winning his first competition in Canada in April, he qualified for the World Masters men’s solo free; ran a GoFundMe to cover some of the travel costs; and came home with a silver medal.
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“It’s an incredible feeling,” Giorgio told Outsports. “Coming into Singapore, there was so much potential in this being a ‘one and done’ for me.
“Now I’m looking at the Gay Games in Valencia next year, and there’s potential to achieve a lot of things. It’s definitely something I’ll be sticking to.”
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So how did Gia sashay from the runway into elite artistic swimming? And is she one of the first drag queens to have hit such sporting heights, the likes of which “Canada’s Drag Race” host Brooke Lynn Hytes could only dream of?
We caught up with Giorgio for a Q&A…
Outsports: Hi Giorgio, and many congratulations on your success! We really enjoyed following your social posts from the championships.
GT: Thank you, and I appreciate this opportunity to share my story and inspire others. I didn’t know how I’d feel afterwards, but it’s been awesome!
In your GoFundMe post, you mentioned you were a four-time national champion in volleyball.
Yes, I played from age 11 to 18 consistently, beach and indoor. When I finished high school, I was finding my queerness, and it was all about drama and the stage. I wanted to perform and be flamboyant!
Since then, I haven’t considered myself an athlete until now, at the age of 33 — that’s a wide gap, along with everything that happened in the middle to find myself.
Competing today, I’m utilizing skills and talents that I’ve built throughout my drag career, because artistic swimming is a performance. So it’s been like a blend and synchronicity of my life.
How did finding your queerness affect you in sports?
In my last year of volleyball, I found myself wanting to sit on the bench. My mom told me to stick it out, but I was done with it.
That resulted in a gradual separation from sports, and then I found myself leaning into drag, which was epic in how it evolved in my life.
Was your high school a challenging place in which to be LGBTQ?
I was definitely the kid who was not out. I had a girlfriend throughout high school, and for years, I was surrounded by athletes playing hockey, baseball, soccer, etc. And I had that experience of seeing queer kids who got bullied.
My queerness became this safety blanket, because I didn’t feel I belonged in that high school world. In drama class, we were taught to be expressive, to ‘be yourself,’ and it made me feel alive.
But my experience with my team was incredible. I never felt excluded. I was never bullied, within my team. It was just the external observations of athletics and how I was treated within the school, which was pretty heavily into sports.
I went to university, and you either choose to play volleyball or you don’t. I made the decision not to. It was the end of that chapter.
Fast forward to your 20s — you establish yourself on the drag scene, and you appear in the second season of the TV show, which airs in 2021. What happens then?
So that year was also when I went to my first synchro show. My friend Jordan Wuest has been coaching in the sport for years. She’s also been a big help in my drag career, and wanted to show me her world.
I remember being sat in the crowd at this show, jaw on the floor, being like, ‘Oh my gosh, they’re dancing in the water!’ I was mesmerized as I’d never seen synchro in person before. That’s where my fascination with the sport began.
Through Jordan, whose club [Vancouver Masters Synchro] is super successful, I learned a lot more about artistic swimming, such as how intricate and technical it is, the choreography, that it’s female-dominated, etc.
I also performed at a pool party around that time, where we integrated drag and synchro. I was on the deck, some girls from the club were in the water… I jumped in to join them, and these two worlds collided!
One day last year, I suggested to Jordan that she might start training me, and she explained how the club would be going to Singapore for Worlds at the end of the season. So that became my target too.
It’s been a process, being 33 and diving into this world, no pun intended, of being an athlete again.
In fact, on the first day of training, I was deemed a ‘sinker’! I thought, ‘Oh great, love that for me! This is going to be a really long journey!’
How were you received at the club?
They already knew me as Gia, so at first it felt like they were treating me as a celebrity. But as time went on, I became more like any other clubmate.
And I’ve felt so welcomed and supported. The artistic swimming community is just filled with love. It took me by storm.
I’ve been given a lot of praise for not only being a male in artistic swimming, but for starting something new and sticking with it, and also competing within 11 months of starting training.
What has it been like to compete?
April was my first, at provincials, which also serves as a qualifier for the World Masters.
It’s also worth mentioning that I perform to an original song I wrote and recorded, which I think brings an extra level to this.
I won the gold, but I was so nervous. It was the first time that I’d done a full run-through of my number, because I’d kept putting it off! I was just hoping I didn’t pass out!
Then in Singapore, it was such a loving, supportive environment. During one of our training sessions, Javier Ruisanchez [U.S. swimmer who won gold in the 25-29 age group category] was giving me tips on how I can better my routine, and improve my posture. I never once felt like I was on my own.
On the day of competition (30-39 age group), I started to get emotional because I was so proud of myself for doing something that makes me feel so alive. And I won the silver medal!
@giametric Training for The World Aquatics Masters Championships in Singapore I’ve been training for 10 months and freaking out cause the competition is just over 3 weeks away! #artisticswimming #synchronizedswimming #swimmingpool @WorldAquatics @Speedo ♬ My Own Hymn – (Mixed) – Above & Beyond & Zoë Johnston
The competitions at the World Masters are gendered, for men and women. How do you navigate that?
I’m gender fluid when it comes to pronouns. Out of drag, he/him is what I typically go by, but my drag is naturally woven into my life, so it all works.
I think the competition actually allowed me to feel more confident in my masculinity. I was still able to be myself and to be flamboyant — I didn’t have to create any borders for how I presented myself.
Do you know of any other drag queens who are at a high level in sports?
There may have been a few, but none that I can remember!
But I would say that it’s like if you want to learn a language… if you want to learn a sport, there are no boundaries on when and how you can do that.
I’ve had messages from people saying that it’s inspiring to see someone learning something new, taking it seriously and showing not only male, but queer representation within artistic swimming.
So that’s where I feel like I might be paving the way for other people to feel more confident in doing that for themselves.
I know you’re close friends with Aidan Faminoff, who went from being an elite college diver to being Hazel the drag queen.
Yeah, we’ve had many giggles about it! It’s been this shift into each other’s worlds!
And what’s next for you?
Well, when it flashed up as a silver medal on the board, my first thought was, ‘Holy f**k’ and my second was, ‘I’m going to have to keep swimming! I must be good at this!’
My coach and I have talked about the Gay Games in Spain. We’re going to look into that, and whatever happens, happens.
There aren’t a lot of men in this sport, so there’s the potential to go far and achieve a lot. The more time I spend in the water, the stronger I get, and the more creative an outlet it becomes for me. I’m excited to build on that and find my style.
You can follow Gia Metric on Instagram and TikTok, and Giorgio is also on Instagram.
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The post ‘Drag Race’ queen wins World Masters silver medal in artistic swimming appeared first on Outsports.
