23 Openly Gay London Olympians
There were 23 Openly Gay Athletes at the 2012 London Olympic Games, including four from the Netherlands’ Gold Medal winning Field Hockey Team. That is less than 1% of the reported 10,820 athletes that were competing at the games. It’s estimated that 3.8% of adults in the United States are gay, so it seems reasonable to assume that the number of athletes in the closet at the Olympics far exceeded those who are out.
Why is this relevant now? The 2014 Olympic Winter Games are set to be held in Sochi, Russia, which has laws against homosexuality. That is currently the biggest story leading up to the games, and is causing some to call for boycotts or protests. Obviously exclusion is not part of the Olympic spirit, so hopefully pressure that is being applied now will lead to changes before the games begin.
We’ve put together this collection of the 23 gay athletes from the London Games, to put a face to the discrimination. You’ll notice that the names come from relatively few countries that compete in the Summer Games. Noticeably absent from that group is Russia. You’ll also notice the general lack of Men on this list… for whom a stigma still surrounds when coming out as athletes, even in the United States
1. Natalie Cook — Australia
2. Matthew Mitcham — Australia
3. Mayssa Pessoa — Brazil
4. Rikke Skov — Denmark
5. Jessica Harrison — France
6. Alexandra Lacrabére — France
7. Carole Péon — France
8. Judith Arndt — Germany
9. Imke Duplitzer — Germany
10. Ina-Yoko Teutenberg — Germany
11. Carl Hester — Great Britain
12. Marilyn Agliotti — Netherlands
13. Carlien Dirkse van den Heuvel — NED
14. Edward Gal — Netherlands
15. Kim Lammers — Netherlands
16. Maartje Paumen — Netherlands
17. Karen Hultzer — South Africa
18. Lisa Dahlkvist — Sweden
19. Jessica Landström — Sweden
20. Hedvig Lindahl — Sweden
21. Seimone Augustus — USA
22. Megan Rapinoe — USA
23. Lisa Raymond — USA
