Matthew Mitcham named "Sports Performer Of The Year"!

Olympic gold medal diving champion (and new gay icon) Matthew Mitcham has come from behind again to win another accolade.

Against higher profile athletes, Matthew walked away with the biggest honor at the Sports Performer Awards in Australia:

Readers of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald voted that Mitcham's upset win over his favoured Chinese opponents, sealed with a final dive that received a perfect 10 from four of the seven diving judges, was the year's best sporting achievement.

The article also goes into the unfortunate fact that winning the gold "hasn't been a financial goldmine", and suggests that Matt's sexuality might have something to do with it, although his manager insists it's "never come up in discussions" with sponsors.

I hope he's right, and that Matt isn't being punished for being such an honest person. But maybe he should look on the bright side. At least he's not on TV every five minutes shilling like Michael Phelps (because when I see a gold medal swimmer, I always think "gee, I wonder what hardware store he goes to?"). As luck would have it, the Sports Performer of the Year award comes with a $50,000 cash prize from the award's sponsor.

Congratulations to Matt, and hopefully this is just the beginning!