Openly gay Olympic athlete (Spoiler)

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(Spoiler below) I warned you.






















Australian diver Matthew Mitcham just won the Gold medal in the 10m platform at Beijing - on his last dive. He scored 112.1 to move from 2nd to 1st and take the Gold from the Chinese divers who otherwise swept the diving gold medals in these games. Mitcham is openly gay and a media sensation in his native Australia.

[oldtime dfl_er]

1. Not to mention

His medal winning dive was BRILL!

[bigwillq]

2. Congrats Matt!

:bounce:

[Bear down under]

3. Yes, congratulations!

n/t

[RedLetterRev]

4. Congrats, Matthew!

It's nice to see one of us get recognition. Things have changed a lot in my lifetime, and I'm only 51. There's a lot of life left to live. Gives me hope that by the time I get to cross the Rainbow Bridge, we might be well onto the road to real equality. I'd love to see it happen.

It can. It can. Keep it out there, Matthew. Thanks for the positive images, man.

[dsc]

5. great interview with him about the time he came out

http://sxnews.e-p.net.au/feature/making-a-splash-3371-2.html

Not only is he hot, and talented, but very well spoken.

[bigwillq]

6. Please kick and rec

They just showed the final on NBC. What a last dive! :bounce:

[dsc]

7. I know amazing

It is hard not to be proud.

[insleeforprez]

8. This is awesome

Singularly the greatest event ever to happen in gay sports history. The ONLY openly gay man in the Olympics wins a gold in his final dive. Wow, just wow.

[HughMoran]

9. That dive was excellent

It's cool that he knocked out the Chinese from a gold and that he's openly gay too.

Good deal all around.

[QC]

10. And he's a cutiepie, too! n/t

[MinneapolisMatt]

11. K&R!!!!!!!!!

YAY for MATT!!!!!!!!!!

[npk]

12. K&R n/t

[GOPNotForMe]

13. So fantastic. His win was so unexpected. He deserved it though.

Amazing.

[Bear down under]

14. He's had a hard road to the top

From the Sydney Morning Herald this morning:

<snip>

Mitcham, 20, battled depression, retired in his teenage years after physical and emotional burn-out, then just nine months later resumed his sport in 2007. Last night his triumphant return to the sport was crowned with gold.

<snip>

It was late 2006 that Mitcham lost passion for diving and suffering depression he quit. During his hiatus from the sport last year to make money he plunged from a tower 14 metres high into a pool of water for crowds at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney. That job reignited his passion for the sport.

One person who has been by his side for the entire tumultuous and now brilliant journey is his partner, Lachlan, he was in the crowd last night courtesy of a Johnson & Johnson Olympic sponsorship.

Mitcham is one of only a few "out" gay athletes in Beijing and the first Australian to openly declare his homosexuality going into an Olympics. He's been a cover-boy for gay magazines and featured on the cult gossip website Perezhilton.com accompanied by the tagline: "Yum. Yum. Yum! Can we have a piece of that????".

<snip>

http://www.smh.com.au/news/diving/a-perfect-10-as-mitcham-dives-for-gold/2008/08/23/1219262633209.html

[Tektonik]

15. fuck yeah

[terrya]

16. Recommeded

I'm very pleased about this. :-)

[swimmernsecretsea]

17. First some sucky news, then some photos.

UPDATE: NBC did not mention Mitcham's orientation, nor did they show his family and partner who were in the stands. NBC has made athletes' significant others a part of the coverage in the past, choosing to spotlight track athlete Sanya Richards' fiancee, a love triangle between French and Italian swimmers and Kerri Walsh's wedding ring debacle.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Openly-gay-diver-wins-gold?urn=oly,102974


http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2008/05/12/matthewmitcham_wideweb__470x351,0.jpg

[dsc]

19. I had wondered if his partner had made it to the games

I am glad he did.

[insleeforprez]

20. I mean, in the end...

gay athletes just want their sexuality to be a non-issue, which it was. I'm guessing if this conversation were held in, say, Mississippi, his sexuality surely would be mentioned, but that's not necessarily a good thing.

[terrya]

21. But we have to get to the point where gay and lesbian relationships aren't shameful.

Matthew Mitcham is openly gay. He has a partner.

If you hide that aspect when talking about his life, then you're basically saying that either 1) it's shameful or 2) since it's a gay or lesbian relationship, it's inconsequential. It's not a "normal" heterosexual relationship, so it's not worthy of mention.

Homophobia is rife in sports, today. Sadly. I think this non mention of Matthew Mitcham's partner is just one example of it.

[Zuiderelle]

29. Exactly. They should have simply shown is family and his partner in the stands with...

"And there is Matthew's family and his partner so-and-so." Or his life-partner, or his spouse, or however Matthew refers to him. When they spend so much time talking about straight athlete's relationships, the least they could do for him is simply mention his partner's name.

[begin_within]

22. I thought that was poor coverage,

Since they did bother to mention that he "walked away from diving" for one year to deal with personal problems. They went to the trouble of mentioning that but forgot the other interesting fact that he's one of the extremely few openly gay athletes at this Olympic Games. On the other hand maybe the fact that his sexual orientation is NOT newsworthy is an advancement in culture in itself...

[cboy4]

18. Thatta Boy!

[dsc]

23. a video of him being interviewd with his mother and partner

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/video/?vxSiteId=6eb02996-d2d9-45cc-bb79-8b5b3340f4f8&vxChannel=Olympics&vxClipId=1383_369770&vxBitrate=300

[dickthegrouch]

24. Congratulations Matthew

That's a stunning dive!
I loved the Aussie interview. NBC, of course, doesn't even show it in slow motion.

And a gold medal to Johnson & Johnson for sponsoring his partner's attendance, too.

[dsc]

25. another great video (this one on NBC's site)

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/player.html?assetid=0823_hd_dvm_au_l1789r7&channelcode=sportdv

Go to the full medal ceremony and see him go into the crowd and kiss his mom and his man.

[begin_within]

26. Thanks

[Smarmie Doofus]

27. K and R. Funny, I watched that last nite but didn't realize what...

... I was watching. Thanks, NBC.

Is there an Australian media blackout re. his sexual orientation like there almost certainly is here?

[Bear down under]

37. There hasn't been a huge fuss about it

But what I've seen has been supportive.

From the Sydney Morning Herald -- "out-and-out champion celebrates"

http://www.smh.com.au/news/diving/outandout-champion-celebrates/2008/08/24/1219516264750.html

The Australian called their video "Diving perfection: Matthew Mitcham celebrates with his partner Lachlan". Here's the link, but it doesn't always seem to work

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/video/?vxSiteId=6eb02996-d2d9-45cc-bb79-8b5b3340f4f8&vxChannel=Olympics&vxClipId=1383_369770&vxBitrate=300

[Smarmie Doofus]

28. Hey, can ya somehow repost it with "Gold Medal" in the headine? nt

[begin_within]

30. That's how I originally had it yesterday,

but then I realized the broadcast of the event hadn't been shown in the U.S. yet, so in order to not violate the spoiler rule, I took out the wording about winning Olympic gold. Now that it's been broadcast I could add it back in, but it's too late now to edit the title.

[Smarmie Doofus]

31. Phooeey. Maybe start a new thread in GD?

Seems like as good a moment as any to "shove our lifestyle" down the collective throat of DU and America.

The more people that know about this guy, the better.

[begin_within]

34. I did start the exact same thread in GD at the same time, but

that one only got like 4 replies while this one has 23 so far.

[Smarmie Doofus]

35. Thanks. Here's a related thread in GD after he won GOLD. nt

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3849540

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

32. Where can we watch the Dive he won the Gold with?

I don't have TV but can catch youtube if it has been posted there. Anyone know?

[dsc]

33. Go to the link in post 25

and watch the video which first comes up.

[bigscott]

36. what a beautiful man

I am so happy for him!
Peace
S