PHOTOS: Gymnast Josh Dixon Comes Out, Vies For Spot On U.S. Olympic Team

Talented gymnast (and Olympics hopeful) Josh Dixon has come out as gay in a recent interview with OutSports. The driven Stanford grad seems to have no trouble focusing on the balance beam—but he had a little difficulty talking about his sexuality.

“Eat, sleep, train and do homework,” was the extent of Dixon’s life. “Gymnastics was my number one priority, and if something got in the way of that I had to push it aside.” The mantra was reflected in his interview with Outsports. When asked about gymnastics, he could rattle of incredibly detailed accounts of his scores and performances. Questions about his personal life were more of a struggle for him to answer.

Half-black, half-Japanese, Dixon admits he didn’t come out on his own, but was  outed after teammates noticed he was spending a little too much time with another male athlete.

When he started exploring his sexuality in his junior year, he quickly learned he wasn’t the only gay male athlete at Stanford, as he was soon dating another varsity athlete. When some members of the gymnastics team noticed Dixon was spending a lot of time with one particular friend, Dixon said they were quite comfortable bringing it up. “Who’s this guy you’ve been hanging out with?” One of them asked. Josh told them he was dating the other male student. “Oh that’s cool,” was the response.

And Dixon tells OutSports that he hasn’t faced any homophobia since coming out, and says he’s “not the only elite-level American gymnast who is gay.” No! If he makes it through the preliminary trials in St. Louis and San Jose, Dixon will be the first openly gay gymnast at the Olympics.  We need a Homolympian gymnast to show the straights the gays can do sports just as good (and sometimes even better)! Click through for some more pics of Dixon, including some shirtless gems and some of him and his gymnast friends goofing off. Photos via Stanford Athletics Dept, Facebook,