The Gay Olympics: Matthew and the women

Matthew Mitcham has a somewhat dubious honour to accompany his richly deserved gold medal in diving.

He appears to be the only out gay man to have competed at the Beijing Olympics, which ended on Sunday.

Despite the presence in the Chinese capital of 11,000 athletes from 204 nations, there was only one who was man enough to be out of the closet.

The ladies faired somewhat better, with ten lesbian or bisexual athletes competing.

Six won medals.

There was a gold in soccer for American Natasha Kai and a bronze for Germany's Linda Bresonik.

The USA's Vicky Galindo and Lauren Lappin both won silvers in softball and Norwegians Gro Hammerseng and Katja Nyberg, a lesbian couple, took gold in handball.

Two German lesbian athletes competed, Judith Arndt in cycling and Imke Duplitzer in fencing, along with Australian tennis player Rennae Stubbs and Sweden's Victoria Svensson, a soccer player.

With out athletes making up less than 0.1% of Olympic contestants, the Beijing Games have demonstrated the need for more to be done to encourage young athletes to be open about their sexuality.

The Gay Olympics: Matthew and the women
PinkNews.co.uk, UK