Openly gay diver wins gold

[Wetzelbill]

Openly gay diver wins gold
By Maggie Hendricks

Diver Matthew Mitcham, the only openly gay male athlete in the Beijing Olympics, won gold in the 10m platform. He beat Chinese favorite Zhou Luxin by 4.8 points, preventing China from sweeping gold in diving events. Mitcham is the first Aussie to win diving gold since 1924, but that's not the only thing that makes him a trailblazer.

He is hardly the first gay athlete to compete but he is one of the first to be out while competing. American diver Greg Louganis did not share his orientation until his diving career was over. To Mitcham, he is just living his life as a gay man and as a diver, and there is nothing extraordinary about that:


“Being gay and diving are completely separate parts of my life. Of course there’s going to be crossover because some people have issues, but everyone I dive with has been so supportive."

Though he wants to be known as more than a gay man, the LGBT community is proud of their star. At OutSports, a sports Web site that focuses on the gay community, his win is front-page news. The Web site brings up a good question -- will NBC mention Mitcham's orientation during tonight's broadcast?


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

[alphafemale]

1. omg...he's such a cutie!

[Wetzelbill]

2. I say this with an unblemished record of heterosexuality

That yes, he's not a bad looking guy. And he was so happy to win, it was a huge upset. He was so emotional, and his coaches and everyone too. It was moving.

[applegrove]

3. What a change. Greg Louganus (sp?) had to keep it quiet.

[Wetzelbill]

4. Yeah and Louganis even had HIV

People freaked out when he came out and said he had it when he famously cracked his head on the springboard and had a cut on his scalp in 1988.