Gay diver has one goal in mind

By Project Q Atlanta | Aug 4, 2008 | 10:00 AM

The current issue of the Advocate includes a profile of Australian diver Matthew Mitcham, one of the few openly gay athletes to compete in the upcoming Beijing Olympics.

Should he win, Mitcham will join the very small club of openly gay Olympic gold medalists.

But as significant as that moment would be for gay athletes everywhere, Mitcham has only one goal in mind. “I just want to be known as the Australian diver who did really well at the Olympics,” he says. “It’s everybody else who thinks it’s special when homosexuality and elite sport go together.”

Mitcham came out in May when a reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald asked whom he lived with. Mitcham nonchalantly said his partner of two years – and the media started. (Hat tip to Outsports)

Speaking of gay Olympians, Gay Sports Blog has compiled a list of 19 gay athletes who have captured Olympic medals in the modern ear of the international competition. Among the names on the list is that of former Atlantan Bruce Hayes, a swimmer who won gold in 1984.