Matthew Mitcham
Diving
At the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, the formidable Chinese men’s diving team was expected to make a clean sweep. Then came the 10-meter platform competition and 20-year-old Matthew Mitcham from the underdog Australian team pulled out a near perfect final dive—the highest single-dive score in Olympic history—to capture the gold for the Aussies. After receiving his score and learning he’d won the gold, Mitcham leapt into the stands to hug and kiss his boyfriend.
Mitcham had come out publicly less than six months prior, and was one of only ten out gay Olympians at the 2008 Summer Olympics. His victory in the 10-mete dive was easily the highest profile win ever by an out gay man in an Olympic event.
It was a powerful human interest story and yet, even though that kiss with his partner was captured by live video feed, NBC opted not to show it or even Mitcham’s medal ceremony in their evening Olympics telecast. But the impact was not lost on the LGBT community: After his historic performance, Mitcham was inundated with letters from gay teens inspired by his athleticism and openness, an experience the gold medal winner described as “extremely humbling.”
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