inspiring

Gay dad has the best reaction to son qualifying for Tokyo Olympics

Jordan Windle and his dad, Jerry
Jordan Windle and his dad, Jerry (Photo: Supplied)

A proud father is over the moon that his son just qualified to represent the USA at the Olympics in Tokyo next month.

Jerry Windle, who lives in California, is gay. When he found it difficult to adopt in the US in the 1990s, he looked abroad instead and found a child in desperate need of a home in Cambodia.

His son, Jordan Windle, 22, lost both his parents when he was one year old. Aged 18 months, and suffering from malnutrition, scabies, and intestinal parasites, he was adopted by Jerry from an orphanage in Phnom Penh.

Jerry Windle with a young Jordan
Jerry Windle with a young Jordan (Photo: Supplied)

Jerry nursed him back to health and set him up on the path to success.

Jordan now attends the University of Texas in Austin. He is a senior, majoring in Culture of Sport. Jerry works for a heart rhythm monitoring company, iRhythm, based in San Francisco.

Related: They survived Mormonism. Can these gay dads survive triplets?

At the US Olympic Diving Trials last week, at his third attempt to qualify for the games, Jordan earned himself a place in the men’s diving team. He will compete in the 10m men’s event.

(Photo: Supplied)

“Jordan began diving when he was seven years old,” Jerry tells Queerty.

“I enrolled him in a summer camp at the Fort Lauderdale Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame. The coach of the diving team, Tim O’Brien, who is the son of Greg Louganis’ Olympic Coach (Dr. Ron O’Brien), saw him and told me that I need to get him into a diving program. He said if I input him into a diving program he would be a national champion one day and likely an Olympian.

“He saw something in Jordan when he was seven that reminded him of Olympic Gold Medalist Greg Louganis. Jordan has since been known as little Louganis!”

 

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A post shared by Jordan Windle (@jordanpiseywindle)


In fact, Louganis has mentored Jordan on four different occasions. Jordan recently told NBC that mentoring was valuable, and he’d be remembering Greg’s advice when he goes to Tokyo.

“Just like Greg Louganis taught me since the beginning to always have fun and treat it like a sport’s supposed to be – go out there and be a competitor – and that’s what I intend to do.”

Jerry says that seeing Jordan achieve his dream of qualifying for the Olympics was “a beautiful experience.”

“He has worked tirelessly for 15 years chasing his dream; he has given up high school dances, Prom, football games, homecoming, etc., to achieve his goal. I have never pushed Jordan in his sport. This has been his journey, and I am so proud to have been able to give him the opportunity, and to be there to support him. I never wanted Jordan to feel pressure from me as many athletes do. I’ve always supported his decisions as it relates to his journey chasing the Olympic Dream.”

 

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A post shared by Jordan Windle (@jordanpiseywindle)


Jerry shared his good news on a Facebook group for gay fathers. He wants people to know that gay people perform just as good a job at parenting as anyone else. Only this week, the US Supreme Court gave its backing to a Catholic adoption agency in Philadelphia that doesn’t want to be forced to place children with LGBTQ parents.

“Although there have been some people who didn’t think a gay person could raise a well-balanced, mentally healthy child or should be allowed to raise children; our story is definitive proof that that assumption is purely wrong and is a fallacy,” Jerry says.

“Jordan is a humble, kind, generous, and nurturing human being who knows and believes all humans are created equal and every human being deserves to be happy, to love and be loved unconditionally – PERIOD.

“For the most part, the diving community has been incredibly supportive of our family,” he continues. “In fact, I’ve had many of Jordan’s friends tell him that he had the best dad in the world – and I suppose I’m one of the ‘cool dads’!”

For Jordan, his dad’s support means the world.

“It’s everything,” the diver recently told NBC, “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him, his love and support. He’s always there for me, calling me. I’d give him anything, and I’m sure he’d do the same.”

Watch a clip of Jordan in action below.

 

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A post shared by Jordan Windle (@jordanpiseywindle)


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