Matthew Mitcham is Golden at Beijing Olympics

I accept that NBC (mostly) showed medal ceremonies and post-celebrations when there were Americans on the podium.  I feel certain, however, that I watched the medal ceremony for the men's all-around gymnastics when there was no American on the podium.  Granted, it was the host country who won that competition and that may have played a factor. 

What I can't reconcile is how, when Matthew had been diving well, they showed but one of his dives in the semi-finals which he finished in second place.  The semi-finals were supposed to air live according to NBC's website, but they were tape delayed from earlier in the evening in the U.S.  The finals were completely tape delayed from early morning in the U.S.  The excuse of live television doesn't hold water (excuse the pun).

Matthew's win was a news story, nevertheless.  He upset the favorite on the final dive to win the gold (with an Olympic record score to boot).  NBC should have afforded it some on air coverage.

My personal feeling, after watching the clips of the post-win, medal ceremony and "victory lap" on the NBC website was that it was one of the more emotional victories of the games.  That's good TV. Period. 

The fact that he was the only out gay male participating in the games was something NBC was well aware of.  The commentators should have been prepared when he was diving so well in the semi-finals.  He had family and a boyfriend there.  With all the fluff crap I watched on other non-American athletes, a couple minutes on Matthew's victory would have been nice.

It is my opinion that Dick Ebersol deserves to hear about this.  Maybe not a full ass-chewing, but he should hear about it.

 

 

 

On both the site and this story!

Guillermo's Media Guillotine: Entertainment, journalism, politics, and popular culture.

http://springintoaction.typepad.com

I'm just speechless. This was such a great moment for him, for a beautiful sport, and for us all as well. I just couldn't be happier. The man has my undying admiration and respect.

"The doctor promised that the [electroshock] treatment would fry the fairy clean out of him. All it did was make him go bonkers every time he heard the electric guitar."

The female commentator kept mentioning how awful the leading Chinese diver's work was, and then he would rack up a huge score.  And of course, they didn't bother showing most of the work by the gold medal winner.

Presumably, since they already knew the outcome and had hours to prepare, they could've put together the commentary after the actual competition and at least pretended they knew what they were talking about.

This was the worst coverage of the entire Olympics.

afhickman

"The mountain has wings."

In Europe, I have watched in vain for any coverage of Mitcham's history-making dive.  I am largely dependent upon CNN for news, and they appear to have completely ignored the isse.  I saw the dive once, on Bulgarian TV and then read about its significance on After Elton.  No one else seems interested.  Please tell me, if I am wrong. 

truly barriers are being broken... i was also in tears when i found out the matthew won and was in awe after watching his performance...

nbc fucked it up. my only wish is that they realize how poorly they (nbc) handled this epic moment in olympic history. though i was not surprised... i mean...they sensationalized the love trangle of the french and italian swimmers.. making a video out of it... i mean.. c'mon!!! have they learned journalism 101 from the National Enquirer? i guess the olympic coverage was too expensive that they just hired writers from In-touch magazine... God... this was one of the proudest moment in our lives and instead of just being so happy with Matthew's accomplishment, i can't help but to be angry at nbc for their stupidity. (sigh) - we still have a long long way to go....

thank you soo much Matthew for being an inspiration for our community... you bring new meaning to the word GAY PRIDE. you added a gold stripe in our rainbow!

oh.. and by the way... was that alexandre despatie (at 8:47) in the blue striped long sleeves congratulating him?

It seemed to me that NBC was trying to have it both ways so to speak. They went on and on about how close David Boudia and Thomas Finchum(both very good looking by the way) were and how they were roommates but failed to mention anything about Matthew Mitchem.  Were they trying to imply something? I don't know.  It would have only taken them about 15 seconds to mention Matthews  partner Lachlan.

You really have done us proud, double for me as Australian gay man.

And can I just mention that his partner, Lachlan is able to be by his side in Beijing through Johnson & Johnson Athlete Family Support Program? I just want to make sure we support people who support us.

Alright then, I'm off to buy some more k-y jelly...! :)

That's a good point, though! NBC is always giving us all this information about the athletes' personal stories and about how their experiences at the Olympics. They missed out on a huge story with Mitcham, because they had a hell of a time getting his boyfriend there and for awhile they weren't even sure if he could make it.

And a central part of it will concern his girlfriends. That's because Sport in this country is inextricably tied to Compulsory Heterosexuality. An out and proud gay athelete is nowhere on their radar. Therefore they maintain silence -- invoking that which ruled when we were all in the closet. As Mitcham proves, those days are OVER.

 Happily there's more than one source for something this important.

 

The triumph of Matthew Mitcham and the silence of the American media is one of this year's biggest media stories.

 

And the video posted above is just so fucking beautiful.

I'm an Olympic nut, so Matthew wasn't the lone reason I watched diving but it was an amazing performance. Definitely a highlight of the Games for me. I was waiting for one of the announcers to mention his partner, thinking that we had come to the point in America where people wouldn't clutch their pearls at the thought. NBC took a misstep on this, in my opinion. It was historic and an inpiration to other gay athletes.

 www.ericarvin.net

Read this article:

NBC, Which Loves Informing You About Olympians' Relationships, Decides Not To Tell You About Matthew Mitcham's

I stopped watching the olympics, because there was wayyyy too much michael phelps coverage happening....and it just made me feel bad for the other athletes.

with that said, i didn't watch Matthew's dive or whatnot....and it doesn't surprise me that NBC didn't show him greeting his mom and his partner. I dont know what to contribute that too...ratings..being uncomfortable with it....probably all the above.

...maybe it has something to do with the country it was being held in...?? EH

Can I just echo the kudos to Matthew for his awesome win? It was electrifying to watch... like Matt, I was excited when it looked like he was going to win the silver. When it turned out he'd won the gold, wow. What a moment. Incredible!

I'd also like to echo ndro's comment about Johnson & Johnson Athlete Family Support Program, for being there for Matt & his family. Seems like this isn't the first time Johnson & Johnson has taken a stand for the glbt community. Very cool of them.

A network whose always been really poor in regard any gay or gay friendly content at the network.

THey did go on at length about Fitchum and Banda (sp?)--that was fine. But, who cared? They weren't even anywhere CLOSE to contending for the medals so they should have been focusing on the ones who were.

Mitchum was a long shot and he stormed in and got gold. You would think that, given they were profiling atheletes and their partners, you'd see Mitchum's partner. But, NBC didnt go there..wasn't expecting them to.

Of course, NBC is VERY good for insinuating and speculating on the sexual orientations of various atheletes and their coaches:

Does anyone remember the interview Coach Bowman did when Matt Lauer asked him about his relationships with Michael Phelps--if it was something MORE than athelete/coach? How Lauer (who is legendary for going after people in this regard) grilled him about being single, not married and no children?

It was a great competition and an exceptional day for Mitchum. He deserved that gold medal and to see him celebrating with his mom and partner was great.

Hopefully, NBC will actually get it together with being more tolerant..but im not holing my breath.

 

 

"We are what we believe we are.'"
-C.S. Lewis

"'It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else's life with perfection.'"
-Bhagavad Gita

"'Yo

Matthew's win was great, compelling sport. Congrats to him! 

I only knew about Matthew because of AfterElton's pre-Olympic coverage. NBC's coverage of Matthew the athlete -- and the person (ie his relationships, his personal turmoil, and yes, his sexuality) -- was horrible. Such a missed opportunity on so many levels.

Thanks AfterElton editors, for posting the best, most complete video clip I've seen of Matthew at the Olympics. Not only were his dives gorgeous, but I loved just watching the dives from various angles, at various speeds -- without the INSIPID COMMENTARY! Take note, NBC -- sometimes great atheleticism is entertainment enough!

So AfterElton editors, since you've done such an amazing job yourselves sharing Matthew's story and victory, will we be seeing an AfterElton interview with Matthew in the near future? I do hope so.

Yes, various mass media outlets need to be held accountable for their coverage, but if YOU GUYS can get the story that we want, I'm sure we'd all be doing celebratory platform dives in your honor!

 

Any Aussies who can share a bit about their experiences of Matthew's media coverage before, during, and after the Olympics?

Australians are so frequently refreshing in their GBLT attitudes, and they usually ADORE their Olympians. (You think US coverage of Michael Phelps is nuts -- Aussie Ian Thorpe coverage was/is insane!) So I'm just wondering how Matthew's story has been showcased in the land down under....

Thanks in advance Aussies for sharing your insights...  

Matt's been discussed at JustUsBoys a lot. There's links to lots of videos about him as well as articles.

Check it out HERE

awesome - that's all there is to say. Thanks for posting the clip! I didn't catch the event live. And congrats to Matthew! You rock, mate!

Being a Brit, I watched the diving on the BBC and I thought it was excellent. I watched it live on my computer at work, and the coverage was very good. The two presenters were excellent and one of them said that he invented that final dive of Matthew's and he'd never seen it performed so well, in fact he called it perfect.

Here's what one of the Beeb's commentators had to say about Matthew. I hope the link works. 

http://outsports.com/olympics2008/2008/08/23/eyewitness-matthew-mitchams-incredible-gold/

 Every dive was beautifully executed and done with elegance and such grace.  This would honestly be something that no one has seen since the legendary Greg Louganis was hitting the platform.  Talk about a true life Aqua-Man, Matthew is a vision of beauty and maybe that sounds so gay but it's so true.  Matthew loving and down-to-earth spirit was so present on the platform and off the platform, that a sissy like myself was tickled pink.  He is the boy next-door and your best friend, that you know is going to make such a huge splash no matter what he does.  He wasn't just representing his family and his native country but he was representing all of us and even though there wasn't too hoopla about his win, just knowing that even in Bejing, we are represented in such a big way, is enough for me.   

Whether or not, Matthew Mitcham won a medal at the Olympics, I think it's safe to say he's won the hearts of many of us for being such an outstanding young gay man. Here's a pre-Olympics interview I just found, and he's really so smart, articulate & mature for his age.

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

I also want to give an award to Jessica Halloran, who first broke the story about Mitcham being gay in the Sydney Morning Herald. It takes a special journalist to treat this story with the sensitivity she did, and it was classy of Mitcham to embrace her first at the press conference after he won. ... And kudos to Johnson & Johnson, for sponsoring Mitcham so he could bring his partner, Lachlan, to the Games.

 

Unfortunately this was one of the days of Olympics I didn't TiVo, but I'm almost glad I found out about the gold from the Internet before I watched the dives. This way I didn't have to bite my nails to the quick.

First off, I was ecstatic hearing that Matthew, the only out male Olympian, won gold. Then to read about how it played out in the last few dives, I was beyond ebullient so I had to watch it online.

Matthew is an amazing young man who deserved to win, not only for his awe-inspiring dives, but even more so for his passion and courage. He made me weep, and he made me proud to be a gay man. Inspiration like this cannot be manufactured. It happens because of a magical confluence of personality, bravery and circumstance, and I was definitely inspired.

Charles Alan Long

Before I begin gushing over Matthew, I just want to mention that after prowling the various Aussie boards I have determined that they are only marginally happier with the coverage they got on their Channel 7 as compared to our gripe about NBC.  Apparently Channel 7 failed to show the competition in real time, which pissed off Aussies who were denied seeing their boy beat the Chinese live.  It's unclear what else was lacking but a lot of people seemed annoyed.

Aussies, as a culture, are quite fanatical about sports and take their Olympic wins very seriously.

Now then, I was already worshipping at the altar of Matthew this weekend but I feel the need to repeat myself: I am unbelievably thrilled by this and proud of him as a part of the gay community.

He deserves every bit of praise we heap upon him. While I know he didn't set out to become a gay hero he has done so nonetheless.

Winning a Gold medal is an almost unbelievable accomplishment, especially against the divers the Chinese fielded.  Matthew proved his unquestionable athletic prowess to the world.  Even the diving teams of other countries (except China) were ecstatic about his victoryt (because it proved China is not unbeatable in diving).

From our perspective, it was all the better because he did all this already being out.  For so long we've had to accept the revelation of gay male athletes orientations either late in their careers or after they've retired.  It comes up in biographies years down the road.

But as a gay man who is proud of himself and his relationship Matthew did something truly groundbreaking by coming out before going off to the Olympics. He had the courage to challenge all the predictions of doom that face an openly gay athlete and instead went before the world with who he really is being public knowledge.  When he won his amazing victory he made a spectacle climbing the stands and embraced his partner along with his mother, in front of crowds and TV cameras.  He was interviewed with his partner's arm around him later on.  He wasn't ashamed, or secretive and didn't make any of the tortured "private life" arguments we've heard far too often.

We have never seen this before. It is absolutely unprecedented in the history of the modern gay community.  How can we not see him as a hero?  How can we not be proud of him when he is so visibly proud of himself.

Whether he set out to be a gay hero or not, I think that he will be for a long time to come. He deserves it.

 

I got incredibly lucky - I've had a hugely hectic week or two and I've watched almost no Olympic coverage at all; it was quite literally pure chance that I turned on the TV when I did and saw that a diving competiton was going on, and even luckier for me that it was this one! And because RTE showed most of the contest (with each dive of the top 6-8 divers being shown) I got to see it all unfolding - I couldn't believe it when Zhou messed up his final dive, and when Mitcham stood up I was frantically trying to calculate how well he'd need to score to win (one of my favourite parts of the Olympics is picking up the rules of random sports as you go along :D) - I actually cheered when he pulled it off! My own country's athletes may not have done spectacularly, but at least I had one real moment of happiness and pride this Olympics!

 

The 'lesbian' was invented in 1992 by Sir Arthur Lesbian.

matthew's win certainly is an inspiration for all, gay or straight. but of course, his victory is more significant to us. i, for one, am inspired.

in some ways, it is a statement to the sporting world that athletic success is sexual orientation-neutral.

i hope his victory can lead to changes in the sport culture.

Whereas the coverage may not have been perfect here in Oz, when one reporter caught up with Matthew at the closing ceremony and asked him about London, he replied he wanted to go to as many Olympics as he could, to which the reporter replied..."and we want you to be there."  which I thought was a very nice statement and a wonderful endorsement of a truly lovely young man who to me embodied the Olympic spirit with his joy.

The other gay Olympian that I know, who also happens to be a diver is Greg Lagounis. Mitcham is, I think, different for he is known to be an out gay diver before he grabbed the coveted Olympic gold.

 

His feat his impressive, a real inspiration to all especially to gays in sports.

 

 

jb1483

I didn't see the Bowman interview. Matt Lauer really did that?

I didn't have enough time to check Olympic games, so would anyone please tell me some website where I can see some videos that include his interview?  Although I know I can read his interviews, I just want to see him talking.

Here's a quote from DNA magazine, issue 83:

MATT HELM

Openly gay Olympic diver Matt Helm makes a splash both in and out of the pool. Photography by Karen Adams.

You probably wouldn’t recognise Matt Helm with his clothes on. When he’s suspended ten metres in the air wearing a super-tight pair of speedos it’s a different story. Those who tuned in to the Commonwealth Games in March saw Helm doing what comes naturally – spinning through the air before smacking into the water at 60 kilometres an hour and scoring a swag of perfect 10s.

In all the news (and, of course, lack thereof) and chat about Matthew Mitcham being the only gay male Olympian competing in Beijing, little mention has been made about Matthew's apparently openly gay countryman and teammate, Mathew Helm, who also competed there -- and whom Matthew names as his idol and a mentor. I'm just curious: what makes a person in the public eye openly gay? Does a mention of an Olympic medalist from Australia in an Australian gay magazine count? Does it not count if it only says "openly gay" but doesn't have the quote "I'm gay" or "my partner [Lachlan, Cydney, Portia, David]"?

I'm sure that Mathew Helm is proud of his teammate -- and he does have an Olympic medal of his own -- but I wonder, in all the adulation of Matthew Mitcham, does he wonder: What am I, chopped liver?