Due to the close timing of 1st World Outgames and the 7th edition of the Gay Games, many individual and team participants were forced to choose between Gay Games Chicago and World Outgames Montreal, a situation exacerbated by the two events being a week apart. The closing ceremony of Gay Games Chicago on 22 July 2006 was only 7 days before the opening ceremony of World Outgames Montreal on 29 July 2006. This meant that those who competed or performed in Chicago would have little recovery time before Montreal. The split resulted in a lower quality of athletic competition at both events because neither could claim the whole field of competitors. Team and individual sports were hurt alike. Few teams were able to field complete squads for both events; In wrestling, 100 wrestlers competed in Chicago (comparable to previous Gay Games), but only 22 competed in Montreal, by far the lowest number for any major international tournament. On the other hand, certain sports that had never had a chance to be presented in Gay Games were presented in Montreal and participants were very satisfied with the opportunity to compete. There was some advantages to the games being so close together time wise and location wise. For some overseas participants who had to travel far, the convenience of the two events being only a week apart and not far from each other enabled them to attend both. Many did not attend at all. After Chicago drew approximately 12,000 participants, Montreal 10,248 athletes, 1,516 Conference Attendees and 835 people to the cultural component of the games. Organizers later recognized that if only one option would have been presented, Montreal's goal of 24,000 participants could have become a reality.