Where are all the out Olympians?

Matthew Mitcham

I don't know if you caught the Opening Ceremony for the Beijing Olympics which kicked off Friday night, but they were amazing. However, as I watched the parade of athletes marching into the Bird's Nest, I was again struck by the fact that out of these thousands of athletes there are a total of five out athletes. And only one of them is male, that being Australian diver Matthew Mitcham. Five! Which is less than half of the number out at the last Olympics.

Frankly, that pisses me off. This is 2008 and entire countries allow gay marriage as do several U.S. states. Other countires and states allow civil unions and fully protect gay rights which have never been as widespread nor as deeply supported as they are now -- and they didn't get that way because people stayed in the closet. And that includes athletes.

Yes, there are reasons anyone, including Olympians, stay closeted. Becoming an Olympic-caliber athlete requires talent and dedication few of us possess and coming out can be a huge distraction. Athletes are often younger people who might not yet have dealt with any questions of sexual orientation Sports are often more homophobic than other fields and there is the issue of possible endorsement deals.

Greg Louganis, Tom Waddell

But thanks to the advances of the gay rights movement, gay folks are able to deal with their sexuality earlier than ever and to live more open lives and that includes gay athletes who no doubt enjoy those very benefits. But those advances didn't come without sacrifices from other people including Olympic athletes like Tom Waddell, Greg Louganis and others who have made sacrifices.

Sports remains one of the last bastions where gay people are still sorely underrepresented and I think the fact that there are fewer out athletes this Olympics than the last game speaks poorly of these athletes. If twenty-year-old Mitcham has the courage to jump into the deep end, then so should more of his gay fellow athletes.