TOKYO OLYMPICS OUT GAMES

The Tokyo Games are shaping up as a watershed for LGBTQ Olympians. 

A wave of rainbow-coloured pride, openness and acceptance is sweeping through Olympic pools, skateparks, halls and fields.

The website Outsports.com has been tallying the number of publicly out gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and non-binary Olympians in Tokyo. The list is now up to 168. That's three times more than at the last Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

 When Olympic diver Tom Daley announced in 2013 that he was dating a man and “couldn't be happier,” his coming out was an act of courage that, with its rarity, also exposed how the top echelons of sport weren't seen as a safe space by the vast majority of LGBTQ athletes.

Back then, the number of gay Olympians who felt able and willing to speak openly about their private lives could be counted on a few hands. There'd been just two dozen openly gay Olympians among the more than 10,000 who competed at the 2012 London Games, a reflection of how unrepresentative and anachronistic top-tier sports were just a decade ago and, to a large extent, still are.

Whereas LGBTQ invisibility used to make Olympic sports seem out of step with the times, the Games in Tokyo are starting to better reflect human diversity.

“It's about time that everyone was able to be who they are and celebrated for it,” said U.S. skateboarder Alexis Sablone, one of at least five openly LGBTQ athletes in that sport making its Olympic debut in Tokyo.

“It's really cool,” Sablone said. “What I hope that means is that even outside of sports, kids are raised not just under the assumption that they are heterosexual."

Carl Hester becomes latest gay Team GB athlete to win Olympic medal

JOSH MILTON JULY 28, 2021

Carl Hester has become the second Britain to score a medal at the Tokyo Olympics. (Julian Finney/Getty Images)


Carl Hester has become the latest Team Great Britain athlete to win a medal at the Toyko Olympic Summer Games after picking up bronze in team dressage.

Hester, 54, was one of the only openly gay Olympians competing for Team GB in 2012 when he helped his equestrian team strike gold at the London Olympics – now he’s one of 13.


Together with his two teammates Lottie Fry and Charlotte Dujardin, as well as horse En Vogue, Hester delivered a sublime performance on Tuesday (27 July) to earn third place in dressage, a stylised form of riding that can be traced back to calvary riders in classical Greece.
Carl Hester thanks ‘incredible team and horses’ after winning Olympic bronze

In the opening round of the competition, Hester scored a thumping 2577.5 to thrust Team GB to second place.

After Fry and Dujardin strolled onto the Baji Koen equestrian park they clinched third with a sturdy 7727, being topped by the Americans (7747) and the Germans (8178) to grab silver and gold respectively.

“An incredible day yesterday taking the Bronze medal,” Hester tweeted.

“So proud of the team and the horses. It’s been such a memorable experience so far.

“This afternoon we did press and TV interviews ahead of the freestyle tonight. Crossed fingers.”

Hester joins other openly queer Brits such as Tom Daley who have had made it big in this year’s Olympic games. Daley picked up his first-ever gold medal during Monday’s men’s synchronised 10 metres platform.

But Hester isn’t the only queer man throwing their hat – or should we say riding tack – into the ring as gay Dutch couple Edward Gal and Hans Peter Minderhoud competed side-by-side during the team dressage, winning fifth place.

The couple, who have been together for more than a decade, celebrated dressage as an inclusive game that feels far removed from the many sports that are, at times, snarled by homophobia, such as football.

“There has always been a level playing field for all genders,” Minderhoud said of dressage, according to OutSports.

“I think it is still one of very few sports where men and women compete together, have no advantage and as such blend happily.”