Out-and-out champion celebrates
Jessica Halloran
August 25, 2008
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HE KISSED him briefly in the stands and gave him his Olympic bouquet. Later, outside the glowing blue Water Cube, Matthew Mitcham and his partner, Lachlan Fletcher, firmly embraced, both shedding tears. Next it was his mother Vivien's turn to hold her golden boy, and more tears fell.
A stunning final dive that was awarded the highest score in Olympic history gave Mitcham the gold. She proudly said her son was a man of "firsts".
"Coming out publicly, that was a first," said Vivien. "The highest score awarded to an Olympic dive ever, another first. How many more firsts can this child get? Can you find something else to be first in? He's just done so well. He deserves it."
Just as he has shown flipping around at 10 metres high, Mitcham has shown no fear about disclosing his sexuality. He was the first Australian athlete to go to an Olympics openly gay.
Carefully nursing Mitcham's Olympic bouquet, Fletcher spoke of the incredible journey that
the diver had taken to the top. Fletcher has been the one constant over the past two years.
He was his rock when Mitcham retired in his late teenage years suffering anxiety and depression. He watched him become a stunt diver at the Sydney Royal Easter show, supported his fight back into the sport and now to win Olympic gold.
"It's been so up and down," Fletcher said. "When I first met him, he was pretty unhappy, he wasn't liking the diving in Brisbane at all, he didn't want to do it, wasn't happy being there.
"It took a lot for him to retire and stop doing it because it had been his life for so long. He wanted to try and be happy again. He took time to do normal things that people do.
"Then after five or six months he started to really miss it again and he had the opportunity to dive with Chava [Sobrino, his coach]. He started that and loved it ever since, every second of it, which is great to see him happy all the time."
Gay website Outsports.com said he was the only man among 10,500 Olympic athletes to publicly say he is gay. But his mother said while he has always been proud of his sexuality, Mitcham was initially concerned that coming out would affect him financially.
"He was only hesitant because he was worried about that factor of sponsorship," Vivien said. "It was a bit of a worry. But I think everybody has caught up now."
Fletcher said that Mitcham, 20, was concerned that his sexuality would overshadow his diving achievements. He has become a pin-up boy gracing the covers of national gay magazines here and overseas. Gossip blogger Perez Hilton featured a shirtless Mitcham accompanied by the tagline: "Yum. Yum. Yum! Can we have a piece of that????"
But the almost perfectly executed back two-and-a-half somersault with one-and-a-half twists and a 3.8 degree of difficulty, earning 112.10 points, made sure people would be talking about his final dive that gave him gold. The Chinese home crowd gasped as Mitcham nailed the breathtaking dive.
"The biggest thing he was worried about was people paying more attention to that than his actually diving," Fletcher said. "And I suppose that kind of did happen a little bit. Hopefully, now it won't be so much of an issue any more."
Mitcham was 30 points behind top Chinese favourite Zhou Luxin before the last attempt. Fletcher said he felt "stupidly nervous" as Mitcham went for his final dive.
Sobrino, who was instrumental in reviving Mitcham's career, was gobsmacked by the final dive. "It was his best dive and that's why we put it at the end," Sobrino said.
"The expectancy of that dive was around 106 to 108 points. But not 112, never. He did it at the right time, at the right moment, in the right pool with the right crowd, so I'm pretty happy and we got the right medal."
It was the eighth and last medal in a sport that China dominates and was expected
to sweep. Mitcham cried and bounced around the pool deck before climbing up to the stands to embrace Fletcher.
"It's going to take a while to sink in," Mitcham said. "My cheeks hurt from smiling. My face hurts from the chlorine. My legs are sore from jumping up and down. I'm in pain and I'm tired. But I'm so happy."
Gay Olympian takes Gold!
Openly gay diver wins gold
By Maggie Hendricks
Diver Matthew Mitcham, the only openly gay male athlete in the Beijing Olympics, won gold in the 10m platform. He beat Chinese favorite Zhou Luxin by 4.8 points, preventing China from sweeping gold in diving events. Mitcham is the first Aussie to win diving gold since 1924, but that's not the only thing that makes him a trailblazer.
He is hardly the first gay athlete to compete but he is one of the first to be out while competing. American diver Greg Louganis did not share his orientation until his diving career was over. To Mitcham, he is just living his life as a gay man and as a diver, and there is nothing extraordinary about that:
“Being gay and diving are completely separate parts of my life. Of course there’s going to be crossover because some people have issues, but everyone I dive with has been so supportive."
Though he wants to be known as more than a gay man, the LGBT community is proud of their star. At OutSports, a sports Web site that focuses on the gay community, his win is front-page news. The Web site brings up a good question -- will NBC mention Mitcham's orientation during tonight's broadcast?
To Mitcham, that doesn't seem to matter. He has gold, and has reached his goals: "I’m happy with myself and where I am. I’m very happy with who I am and what I’ve done.”
UPDATE: NBC did not mention Mitcham's orientation, nor did they show his family and partner who were in the stands. NBC has made athletes' significant others a part of the coverage in the past, choosing to spotlight track athlete Sanya Richards' fiancee, a love triangle between French and Italian swimmers and Kerri Walsh's wedding ring debacle.
By Maggie Hendricks
Diver Matthew Mitcham, the only openly gay male athlete in the Beijing Olympics, won gold in the 10m platform. He beat Chinese favorite Zhou Luxin by 4.8 points, preventing China from sweeping gold in diving events. Mitcham is the first Aussie to win diving gold since 1924, but that's not the only thing that makes him a trailblazer.
He is hardly the first gay athlete to compete but he is one of the first to be out while competing. American diver Greg Louganis did not share his orientation until his diving career was over. To Mitcham, he is just living his life as a gay man and as a diver, and there is nothing extraordinary about that:
“Being gay and diving are completely separate parts of my life. Of course there’s going to be crossover because some people have issues, but everyone I dive with has been so supportive."
Though he wants to be known as more than a gay man, the LGBT community is proud of their star. At OutSports, a sports Web site that focuses on the gay community, his win is front-page news. The Web site brings up a good question -- will NBC mention Mitcham's orientation during tonight's broadcast?
To Mitcham, that doesn't seem to matter. He has gold, and has reached his goals: "I’m happy with myself and where I am. I’m very happy with who I am and what I’ve done.”
UPDATE: NBC did not mention Mitcham's orientation, nor did they show his family and partner who were in the stands. NBC has made athletes' significant others a part of the coverage in the past, choosing to spotlight track athlete Sanya Richards' fiancee, a love triangle between French and Italian swimmers and Kerri Walsh's wedding ring debacle.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
What a wonderful moment... I cried along with him when the scores for his quite magnificent final dive came up on screen. He's absolutely gorgeous, to boot.
Gay hero Matthew Mitcham wins Olympic 10m diving gold medal
By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk • August 23, 2008 - 16:30
From gay icon, to Olympic champion, Matthew Mitcham has won his first gold medal. He is the only openly gay male athlete competing in Bejing. There are 9 lesbians and one bisexual woman competing alongside him.
In the last moment he snatched the gold from China's Zhou Luxin, achieving earning four perfect 10s on his last dive, a back two-and-a-half somersault with two-and-a-half twist and a difficulty of 3.8 earning him four perfect tens and a total of 112 from that dive alone. He finished with 537.95 points.
This allowed him to overcome a 32.50-point gap between him and Luxin, who had been leading throughout much of the competition.
Waving rather camply towards the cameras after each dive, the 20-year-old came in 12th place at the 2005 World Championships. He has also competed internationally in trampolining at the 2003 Youth Olympic Festival.
British Prime minister, Gordon Brown was among the spectators, primarily to watch 14-year-old Tom Daley who came in seventh place.
Mr Daley said: "It was an unbelievable finish from Mitcham. To get all those 10s, that is probably the highest score I have ever seen in one dive."
Edited By rudeboy on 1219507975
Gay hero Matthew Mitcham wins Olympic 10m diving gold medal
By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk • August 23, 2008 - 16:30
From gay icon, to Olympic champion, Matthew Mitcham has won his first gold medal. He is the only openly gay male athlete competing in Bejing. There are 9 lesbians and one bisexual woman competing alongside him.
In the last moment he snatched the gold from China's Zhou Luxin, achieving earning four perfect 10s on his last dive, a back two-and-a-half somersault with two-and-a-half twist and a difficulty of 3.8 earning him four perfect tens and a total of 112 from that dive alone. He finished with 537.95 points.
This allowed him to overcome a 32.50-point gap between him and Luxin, who had been leading throughout much of the competition.
Waving rather camply towards the cameras after each dive, the 20-year-old came in 12th place at the 2005 World Championships. He has also competed internationally in trampolining at the 2003 Youth Olympic Festival.
British Prime minister, Gordon Brown was among the spectators, primarily to watch 14-year-old Tom Daley who came in seventh place.
Mr Daley said: "It was an unbelievable finish from Mitcham. To get all those 10s, that is probably the highest score I have ever seen in one dive."
Edited By rudeboy on 1219507975