Aussie Matthew Mitcham will be one of just 13 out athletes in London Updated: There will be 20 openly gay or lesbian athletes at the upcoming London Olympics, just three of whom are men. The most high-profile is gold medal-winning Australian diver Matthew Mitcham, who has become a vocal spokesman for gay rights. It’s an increase from 11 in Athens and 10 in Beijing, but Outsports blogger Jim Buzinksi says it shows “not much has changed in athletes being public about their sexual orientation despite much more willingness of the public to deal with it”. “Simple math dictates that there are many more gay and lesbian athletes in London than who are publicly out. With 12,602 athletes set to compete, just 1 per cent of them being gay or lesbian would be 126,” he continues. The 20 openly gay and lesbian athletes are: Matthew Mitcham (Australia, diving); Edward Gal (Netherlands, equestrian); Lisa Raymond (U.S., doubles tennis); Judith Arndt (Germany, cycling); Seimone Augustus (U.S., basketball); Imke Duplitzer (Germany, fencing); Megan Rapinoe (U.S. soccer); Marilyn Agliotti (Netherlands, field hockey); Carl Hester (Britain, equestrian); Carlien Dirkse van den Heuvel (Netherlands, field hockey). Mayssa Pessoa (Brazil, handball); Rikke Skov (Denmark, handball); Maartje Paumen (Netherlands, field hockey); Natalie Cook (Australia, beach volleyball); Alexandra Lacrabère (France, handball); Jessica Landström (Sweden, soccer); Hedvig Lindahl (Sweden, soccer); Lisa Dahlkvist (Sweden, soccer); and Carole Péon (France, triathlon) and Jessica Harrison (France, triathlon). Péon and Harrison are a couple. In addition, Pia Sundhage, U.S. women’s soccer head coach, is openly gay, as is Hope Powell, Britain women’s soccer coach. Read more from Outsports here
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 24th July 2012 - 5:14pm