The 2012 Summer Olympics start on July 27, and we’ve got our watchful eye on the queer athletes heading to London. Not many have publicly acknowledged their orientation, but the brave few who have get a gold medal in our book.
In the 2008 Beijing games, 11 athletes were out about their sexuality. So far, London doesn’t have nearly that many LGBT competitors. (A proposed Olympic Pride House in Clapham Common was cancelled due to lack of sponsorship.) Perhaps after the medals have been handed out and the pressure is off, a few more will feel comfortable stepping forward and representing the rainbow.
Click through to meet the out athletes of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games—and those who came close to getting the gold
Is there a queer Olympian we missed? Tell us in the comments.
Matthew Mitcham won the gold medal for the 10-meter platform dive back in the 2008 Games. Despite suffering several injuries over the past year, the Australian sweetie garnered perfect scores all seven judges during trials.
The out-and-proud champion, who returns this year to defend his title, is at ease with the spotlight his sexuality has sometimes put him in: “Until it is easy for sports people to come out without fear of persecution or fear of lost sponsorship income, or fear of being comfortable in the team environment, I don’t mind attention being brought to my sexuality in the hope that it might make other people feel more comfortable,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Mitcham scores a Perfect 10 from us.
Megan Rapinoe, 27, is one of the world’s foremost female soccer players—she’s worshiped by fans the world over and even scored a major endorsement deal from Nike. This year, she joins the U.S. women’s soccer team for the London Games. But she recently made an even bolder move, coming out in Out: “I feel like sports in general are still homophobic, in the sense that not a lot of people are out. I feel everyone is really craving [for] people to come out. People want— they need—to see that there are people like me playing soccer for the good ol’ U.S. of A.”
Photo: Ampatent
Stephany Lee was poised to be only openly lesbian wrestler on the U.S. Olympic women’s team, until she tested positive for marijuana last month and was kicked off the team. It’s quite an unfortunate turn of events. Lee was clean during the Olympic trials in April, and she recently married her partner, Brigg McDonald. She’s keeping her nose, er, lungs, clean and focusing on 2016.
Photo: Larry Slater
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Josh Dixon hoped to be the first gay gymnast to represent the U.S. at the Olympics. While there are always whispers about gay men in gymnastics, none have tumbled forth into the media spotlight. Josh would have been an inspiring role model, especially because he is also bi-racial, half-black and half-Japanese.
Sadly, 2012 was not his year.:Dixon finished 13th in the Olympic trials in June—an impressive feat, but not enough to win him a coveted spot on the team. Hopefully, he’ll continue to compete and score a spot on the 2016 team, when he hopefully will be joined by some out teammates.
Seimone Augustus isn’t just a top draft pick in the WBNA, she’s one of the few out lesbians in the league (We said out lesbians.) A guard for the Minnesota Lynx, Augustus came out to The Advocate earlier this year when she got engaged to fiancee LaTaya Varner. (The two were co-grand marshals of the Twin Cities Pride Parade last month.) When she joins the U.S. women’s basketball in London, Augustus will be showing off her skills—and her many tattoos, including one on her Achilles’ heel. “Pain must soothe me. Maybe at that time the pain was helping me overcome something,” she told ESPN. “Relationship issues, maybe? I was angry about something, but I can’t remember what it was. Going through that kind of pain, it must have been to help me deal with a relationship.”
Right wing Marilyn Agliotti took Netherlands’ national field hockey team to Beijing in 2008, when they won the silver. She was born and raised in South Africa but in 2001 came to the Netherlands, where she met her wife. Her new home is one of the most gay-friendly in the world, but passions for field hockey lean toward the conservative: “The hockey world imposes high expectations. Feelings that don’t conform, they don’t want to hear about,” she told Heroes magazine. “They’re at peace with lesbian players as long as they remain in the background.”
Keelin Godsey, 28, failed to qualify for the London Games in the hammer throw but, as a highly visible trans athlete who’s helped raise awareness and spur the creation of trans-inclusive policies, he’s accomplished more than most Olympians.Godsey postponed hormones or surgery while he trained for the Olympic trials, meaning he competed in the women’s division. Even knowing he didn’t make the team, he kept a bright attitude: “I’ve still done more than most people that are trans have. I’ve still competed at a level that most people haven’t. I don’t want to let not making a team be what brings that down.”
EdWoody
At the risk of setting off a powderkeg, I can’t help but note that there a lot more women in this article than men. And I feel that this points to a still ongoing perception of sports as being a masculine pastime. A lesbian is more likely to be out in sports because she’s more likely to be accepted because, well, a lesbian is basically a man anyway (they would say). Whereas a gay man, well he’s threatening to the male dominated hierarchy and therefore much less likely to be accepted.
NB. I wish I didn’t have to point this out, but I want to make clear this is not MY opinion above, but an opinion I could easily see others having.
Analog
Matthew Mitcham!!!! <3
Tavdy79
The Olympic Pride House has been resurrected: it will now be in Limehouse rather than Clapham, and they’re looking for volunteers.
Cam
@EdWoody:
I think part of it might be, that a woman competing in sports probably has a competitive, aggressive personality to make it to the Olympics. She has already broken some stereotypes so many is more aggressive about coming out. Whereas a man has grown up being called a f a g in the locker room if they didn’t play well. But really, who knows, maybe the women are just braver this Olympics. Hopefully the men will catch up before the games are over.
Analog
Given there’s so few out gay athletes of any description, I doubt there’s anything of worth that can be ascertained from the handful who have.
If there was loads of out lesbian athletes and only one or two gay men, then maybe speculation of this nature would have more merit, but as it stands, the only thing one can say with any certainty is that the vast majority of gay athletes are in the closet regardless of gender, race or any other factor…
Mikey Rox
The headline is ‘Meet the Gay Athletes Heading to the Olympics.’ But three out of the eight athletes listed aren’t going to the Olympics… and neither would Queerty if it was an accuracy competition.
Jay
Closets are deep, especially in sports. ever notice how most of the cars with gay stickers are driven by women? maybe they’re braver than men…maybe men have more to lose if being out turns against them…it is curious that there were so many more women than men in this article…one day, maybe soon, that will change.
Analog
@Jay: “ever notice how most of the cars with gay stickers are driven by women? maybe they’re braver than men”
Or maybe women are just more likely to put stickers on their cars?
Zane
Go Megan Rapinoe!
aussie1
How about Ian Thorpe??
Ted
Lots of the headlines on stories on this site seem to be misleading.
LVgay
Paul Ruggeri is another gay gymnast and had a better shot at making the Olympic team than Dixon actually. He isn’t out in the media, but to friends, fans, etc he is.
dazzer
I hope Queerty will do another article detailing the out Paralympians – and there are several. Gay Paralympians face all the same problems that out Olympians do, but have to face extra discrimination because they’re disabled. I know that out gay Olympians are ‘news’ stories because they’re usually physically beautiful and make for good photos. But if you look at someone like Lee Pearson (an out equistrian Paralympian who has 10 gold medals to his name and has beaten able-bodied equestrian Olympians), being out and a world-beater should be celebrated across the ‘gay’ world.
Andrew
Matthew is one ray of sunshine I’d love to wake up with every morning.
Danny
The Olympics aren’t the best athletes in the world; they are simply the athletes wishing to jump through hoops and get sponsors.
The best games are the ones where people are actually having fun – like the Special Olympics, the Gay Games, the Outgames, etc. which still have the spirit of sportsmanship without the money focus.
Sean
It would be nice if you would have at least labeled the pictures with at least the Gay Olympians names, if not a brief bio in the description of each photo. I think they at least deserve the respect of being properly credited and mentioned. The only two articles I viewed on queerty.com today is this article and the article on hunks at comi-con, the pictures of the “hunks” have their “names” in the description, and our incredible gay olympians have nothing in the description below their photos. Hopefully just an error and this will be corrected. Sincerely SPW
Analog
Matthew Mitcham is the only one I’ll be cheering on and I hope so much that he wins gold.
He’s a hell of an inspiration for gay athletes: out for so long, despite troubles getting sponsorship and the fact his winning gold already was met with far less fanfare in Australia than there would undoubtedly have been had he not been gay.
Yes, he’s super-cute and lovely and everything, but that’s not why I think he so wondeful (honest!!) – he’s not really my type anyway; too young. 🙂
Good luck, Matt!!!
Analog
^ He’s an inspiration for ALL athletes too, of course – due to his success.
Nicholas
@Analog: I don’t normally go for blondes, but that cat is adorbs, and, besides being an exceptional athlete, seems like he is also a pretty awesome human being if you look into his bio.
michael
God Matthew is so adorable. The boy you wanna take home to meet the family.
KARUADAM
@Mikey Rox: Go suck egg.
KARUADAM
@Ted: Are you reading them first? dosn`t look like.
Jeff
@EdWoody:
This is a fairly old argument that i don’t think holds true anymore. Across society you see lesbians tend to be more out in general.
Mass prince
pretty much gay just by looking at his mouth
Anonymous
LVGay…if you knew Paul at all, you’d know he doesn’t really use a label as to what he is.
RJ
Outsports has a more thorough list with some coaches & a couple paralympians mentioned.. a couple as well!
EvonCook
So Queerty what you meant to say before throwing the pc “lgbt” nonsense at us, was that here are the one gay guy and several lesbians that are in the Olympics and going for the gold.