Beijing 2008 - Only ten gays in the village

Eurosport - Mon, 18 Aug 12:37:00 2008

Only 10 of the 10,500 athletes competing in the Beijing Olympics are openly gay, according to a study by a gay website.

DIVING Beijing 2008 Matthew Mitcham of Australia - 0

Some gay athletes fear that coming out would bring disapproval from fans and team mates, others worry about the damage to endorsements, Outsports.com said. Unwarranted media attention could also detract from their performances, it added.

Nine of the gay athletes named by Outsports were lesbians and their sports ranged from fencing to cycling. Just one, Australian diver Matthew Mitcham, was a man.

Outsports said this must be way short of the real figure and argued that a more accurate estimate could even reach 1,000.

"For all we know, there is a gay rower or badminton player somewhere known as gay within his or her sport but not in a larger public context," it said.

Outsports found the figure disappointing especially after the efforts of tennis players like Martina Navratilova and Amelie Mauresmo to be more open about their sexuality.

Eli Portnoy, chief brand strategist at the Portnoy Group, a US.consultancy specialised in branding, said being openly gay could still work against athletes.

May brands would be wary about promoting a gay athlete, he said, citing the example of U.S. diving gold medallist Greg Louganis whose endorsements waned once he came out.

Australian diver Mitcham said he just wanted to be known as a successful Australian diver and argued that his homosexuality should not be an issue.

"It's everybody else who thinks it's special when homosexuality and elite sport go together," he said.

Outsports said it may be a good idea for athletes to take their time before speaking out about the issue.

"The vast majority of Olympic athletes are under 30, a time when even people who are not elite jocks are wrestling with their sexuality," Outsports said.

"Being an Olympic athlete requires full-time dedication and a lot of things get put on hold. It is just easier to hide and deal with one's sexuality later," it added.

Outsports concluded that gays still faced a major battle being recognised in sport for their talent, not their sexuality.

"In a classic Catch-22, the reluctance of gay athletes to come out will be tough to overcome until more like them come forward and prove that being a 'gay athlete' is not an oxymoron or hindrance to success."

Reuters

Comment 235 - 254 of 254

Sort comments by: Most recent

  1. who gives a ***** if the person is gay or straight. If they a good in their sport, let the get on with it.

    From darrencowlishaw@..., on Wed 20 Aug 7:15PM

  2. why do gay think people are interested in hearing abt them... i can rest assure no one is interesting to hear abt these sick people. keep it within the gay community the world is not interested

    From dercute, on Wed 20 Aug 3:51AM

  3. what do you mean? only ten happy people,i,m sure i saw a lot more competitors having fun,,,,,,,,,OH YOU MEAN TEN POOFS SORRY

    From Tom T, on Tue 19 Aug 11:05PM

  4. No one's business what they do. Can't change the world they or we live in or our mentality we choose to live in. How many Communists? Supremacists? Indigenous people? night people? or nutty people? get my point? we're only humans/animals.

    From , on Tue 19 Aug 8:58PM

  5. I'm not bothered if they're gay or not - but i hate them saying that they are in such a way. Alot of homosexuals are telling us to 'get used to it' - it's them that are alienating themselves by making such a bid deal about them being gay! If they lived a life where their everyday actions were nothing to do with their sexuality they would be in a much better situation than the gays as a whole are in now.

    From Durrrrr, on Tue 19 Aug 7:15PM

  6. What I would like to know is why people feel that homosexual people should annouce their sexuality? Just because there are only 10 'openly' homosexual people in the olympics does not mean there aren't more who simply do not feel the need to announce it to the world! Even without the possibility losing sponsorship, fans and friends etc it's their own business, just like it is no ones business if a person is straight!

    From CLAIRE881, on Tue 19 Aug 4:43PM

  7. fantastic waste of space and time yet again - i think we have concluded that it is an irrelevant news item, that sexuality does not hinder/enhance performance, and i would hope that we can just let the athletes be - they are after gold medals not notches on bedposts - glad to see the Sodom and Gomorrah brigade popped up in this thread again - yawn! To that person - can you prove scripturally that those people were condemned for homosexuality - if they were all gay how did they produce so many citizens, and for those that were saved (Lot and his daughters) the first thing they did upon leaving was commit incest and not an eyebrow was raised - in fact both girls got pregnant with daddy as the baby daddy - incest fine - gayness wrong - strange God you are worshipping - i want a God that loves everyone

    From tsadha, on Tue 19 Aug 4:24PM

  8. The fact that some possible gay atheletes may or may not declare their orientation may be nothing more than good old fashioned " none of our business syndrome"

    This does not mean I am for or against gays it simply means that as grown ups most of us like to keep our sex life private and that includes who we sleep with regardless of orientation.

    Gay staight or Bi what on earth has it to do with an atheletes performance. I care not with whom and for whom the bell rings I only ask that they perform thier SPORT to the best of their abilities.

    This is 2008 who gives a monkeys what happens behind closed doors as long as it is between consenting adults and I do not have someone elses sexual history rammed down by throat when I only want to watch the marathon or diving or sailing etc

    From W H, on Tue 19 Aug 11:30AM

  9. wtf this should even be news whether or not somone is gay shouldnt stop them from being an athlete and if they dont want to say ther gay fine its ther choice ther shouldnt be a twaty website trying to make athletes feel bad for not saying ther gay or teling us that somone we thought was straight could be gay

    From fraserbryan@..., on Tue 19 Aug 11:07AM

  10. Hey look at me i'm proudly, openly, publicly straight!

    From Salim, on Tue 19 Aug 10:27AM

  11. Greatness to you brentbrasil. People, especially Outspots or whatever they are called, should understand that this is sport. e.g. Mens Rowing or Womens 100m Hurdles. Not Gay Mens Cycling or Lesbian Womens Tennis. If they want it that way why dont they create their own?!? And who gives a &^@$#& what they'll do there?!?

    From Tumi J, on Tue 19 Aug 9:48AM

  12. Who gives a @#$%? Only Outsports and the media. I can't stand stupid organisations like Outsports. Why do they need to "out" all there own people, is just to make themselves feel better? They just want to brand them all so that they can create a bigger movement for themselves! Stupid Idiots! Leave the buggers alone!!

    I'm sure I speak for 95% of the country when I tell you that we don't want know about how many gays there are in the Olympics or how many gays there are in the whole world. And I'm sick to death with all the gay headlines!

    Good luck to them, leave them alone and leave us alone with this nonsense.

    From brentbrasil, on Tue 19 Aug 7:59AM

  13. I think there is some sort of a complex that the 'gay society' is trying to overcome. For goodness sake, why do we have to get this pushed in our face all the time? It is sickening! It seems some people would rather have us all as gay. And that journalists will waste time and space to get this sort of stories published! Yahoo! News should get better things to report.

    From First L, on Tue 19 Aug 7:30AM

  14. so, r, the ten persons, that r gay in the olympics, the village peaple

    From johntheworker2002, on Tue 19 Aug 6:09AM

  15. what an absolute waste of time and money, which, by the way, the organization who conducted the survey, could have donated to one, or more, of the gay competitors expenses and really help them.

    From COLIN S, on Tue 19 Aug 5:47AM

  16. "It's everybody else who thinks it's special when homosexuality and elite sport go together," i guess that means exactly what been wrote is true.

    i understand the point they are making there in respect of non gays from my point of view

    and i let the gays make there own opinians about what it means to them

    the thing is no one should be looking at the athletes thinking that i think s/he is good looking
    but some times we get distracted from the sports an start looking at the attractive athletes its who we are as a species it not about what gender these distracted fools are looking its about its about missing all the other athletes performance because ya focused on one

    From dodgeboynorwich, on Tue 19 Aug 5:18AM

  17. Personally,I'm sick of hearing people whining about who is or isn't gay.Some people seem to take any and every opportunity to raise questions about peoples sexuality,I wonder why? In a world where thousands of children die needlessly every day-pathetic!
    The time and effort put into these "studies" could certainly be better utilized.

    From gsymons501@..., on Tue 19 Aug 4:54AM

  18. 10,500 athletes to 100,000 condoms. Gay or straight, they are sure having fun in the Olympic village. What happens in the village stays in the village. Plus with so many @#$% comments on here about sexuality, is it hardly surprising that athletes who are attracted to members of their own sex will want to keep it quiet? It's probably better off that way too, so that the rest of us can keep our minds on the sporting talent!

    Viva la difference!!

    From JD, on Tue 19 Aug 2:45AM

  19. does it really matter if they are gay its up to them what thay do not you.

    From tuck, on Tue 19 Aug 2:38AM

  20. Man some sad journos will say anything to make a story. Obviosuly more than 10 competitors in the olympics choose same sex partners, frankly who cares, to me it says more about society attitude that those who are gay are too afraid to admit it for the controversy it 'might' cause. Grow up and move on

    Alph

    From PETER N, on Tue 19 Aug 1:55AM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account