Lika Starr

Australian Mathew Mitcham, the Olympics only openly gay athlete to win a gold medal, upsets China’s full sweep. Mitcham takes it all home in his near perfect Men’s 10M Platform dive.

Mitcham’s openly gay status is a landmark itself in the international world of sports. It is rare that an athlete comes out while still performing in sports. The stigma of being gay and an athlete at the same time can be tough. Because of that, gay sports fans and the community alike consider Mitchman a role model. Winning the gold medal more than celebrates his hard work as an athlete. It also shows the world that gay men and women are equal to their heterosexual counterparts in every aspect of life.

Of course with all good news there is also the bad. Here in the states, we’re in the midst of a nation coming to terms with it’s gay citizens. In light of that there are gay watchdogs everywhere. From getting anti-gay advertising pulled to calling out public personalities for anti-gay remarks and slurs. The Mathew Mitcham story is different in that his real story was completely ignored by one of our top news networks.

Our own NBC, news network, has proudly brought a sense of family to it’s reporting of sports. Often citing the personal relationships of athletes, big and small, local and international. These relationships include the athlete’s family members and their significant others. Yet when they covered Mitcham’s gold win there was no indication that he is openly gay. A choice by NBC that some of us in the gay community condemns them for. FanIQ says it best in an article written today by member blogger, 100%InjuryRate.

“My point is this. NBC went out of its way to let us know about the relationships - even showing us kisses - of a number of bigtime and smalltime athletes. But all the athletes were significant in some way. So was Mitcham. He prevented the Chinese from sweeping gold in diving. His story is truly one of the best of the Games.

The reason why is because the sports world is, for the most part, an incredibly macho arena. And many people, including both athletes and fans, have the mistaken belief that you can’t be gay and be an athlete. Letting viewers know that Mitcham is gay would’ve, in my mind, helped more people - athletes and fans - realize that any individual, regardless of their sexual orientation, can be a great competitor and an Olympic champion.”

Usually one’s sexuality shouldn’t be a factor in athletics or any other profession for that matter. But in the case, when a network makes it their business to bring in a personal touch, it should be. Not doing so misses the mark especially from the same network that brought us the widely popular and accepted Will and Grace television series.

In the first video below we see Matt with his mom, boyfriend and others. It really intensifies the emotion of his win. In the next video we see the complete competition with all the rounds including the gold medal win and the celebrations afterwards. At 15:00, it’s a long video but worth the time to watch especially if you missed it live.

[Sources: Photo and Daily Motion video by GayClic.com - YouTube video by loveommx]