Aug. 23, 2008 flash: Matthew Mitcham wins the Olympic gold medal in the 10-meter platform.
(For updates on Mitcham and more news and photos, including video of Mitcham and his partner Lachlan in Beijing, check our Mitcham articles on our Olympics blog.)
Australian diver Matthew Mitcham, 20, is going to Beijing to compete in the Summer Olympics and he is going as an openly gay man. Mitcham revealed his sexuality in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.
Months out from the Games, Mitcham has taken the courageous step of revealing his sexuality to the media for the first time, in an exclusive interview with the Herald. He has also applied for a grant through a Johnson & Johnson Athlete Family Support Program to have [his boyfriend] Lachlan near him in Beijing.
We can’t afford for Lachlan to go at the moment,” Mitcham said. “But Johnson & Johnson offer grants to go to Beijing and I’ve nominated Lachlan as the support person I want to go.”
Mitcham is very talented and has a serious shot at a medal in the 10-meter platform. He won the USA Diving Grand Prix in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., on May 11. He is a former trampoline athlete with a silver piercing in his tongue and a reputation as a free spirit (to make money he would dive from 42 feet up for crowds). It all came together in Ft. Lauderdale.
His performance was astonishing. Mitcham beat two top Chinese divers who will challenge him for gold. When he saw his four perfect 10s he whooped and leaped on the pool deck. Finally, the man who had battled anxiety and depression as a teenager, taking medication and seeing psychologists, had arrived on the world stage. And it proved the time he spent away from the sport last year had been worth it. Mitcham’s premature retirement had been a chaotic and unusual time when he “partied” and lived without regimen.
Mitcham’s story reads like that of a struggling young man who has put his life together with the help of athletics. I know whom I’ll be rooting for in Beijing.
Having a gay Olympic diver is not new, but having an out one is not common. Multi-gold medalist Greg Louganis came out after his Olympic career ended in 1988. American David Pilcher competed while openly gay at Syndey in 2000. In the 2004 Athens Games, Outsports was able to document 11 openly gay and lesbian athletes. –Jim Buzinski
Related: See the list of out Olympians in Beijing.)
Hat tip to a reader for alerting us to this story.
on May 25th, 2008 at 8:47 am
he is rewally cute
http://www.queersunited.blogspot.com
on May 25th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Interesting story. Mitcham is clearly at the top of his game, and his coming out comes just prior to the Beijing Olympics. Yet perhaps the media and society are not on his case that much, perhaps we’ve moved beyond that.
Found this Washington Post article on him following platform win at the US Diving Grand Prix:
This man, at the top of a diving medal podium? An Australian free spirit who just two years ago up and quit — for a year — because he was sick of the sport? A former trampoline artist with a silver piercing in the middle of his tongue? A self-described non-athletic kid who grew up “uncoordinated, small, skinny, lanky [and] wobbly-kneed?”
Meet Matthew Mitcham, 20, who crushed the competition to win the gold medal in Sunday’s men’s platform final on a big day for Australia at the USA Diving Grand Prix. Mitcham topped his more acclaimed countryman Matthew Helm, the reigning Olympic silver medalist, and Germany’s Sascha Klein, the winner of the prestigious 2008 World Cup, as well as a pair of Americans with medal hopes.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/11/AR2008051102194.html
And, what might make him the darling of Beijing, there’s this YouTube video of the press conference following the 2008 FINA Diving Grand Prix in Shenzen where he speaks a few words of Mandarin (if anyone understands what he said, please post): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-ZTMBAZxyY
on May 25th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Bruce Hayes, who won gold at the 1984 Olympics, came out later and took part in the 1990 Gay Games.
on Jun 9th, 2008 at 1:59 am
Canmark, he only spoke a few words in the beginning (the rest of the video was from the Chinese diver). Matthew said that day was his birthday, and then you could hear some laughter from the room (probably pleasantly surprised by his Mandarin).
on Aug 23rd, 2008 at 10:04 am
Dirty arse bandit
on Aug 23rd, 2008 at 10:15 am
Congratulations Matt! A gold medal tonight in the 10m platform diving, the only non-Chinese diver to win a gold in Beijing. Fantastic effort.
on Aug 23rd, 2008 at 11:48 am
Love you!!!
on Aug 23rd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Well Done dude!
on Aug 23rd, 2008 at 12:05 pm
hetero-man, Matt’s Olympic champion, and he’s a million more times of a man than you will ever be and a whole better person. (That’s coming from a straight woman.)
Well done, Matt!
on Aug 23rd, 2008 at 1:22 pm
How do you know he’s a better man, know him personally do you? He’ll probably get arrested for hanging round the men’s toilets tonight!
on Aug 23rd, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Quite simply, hetero-man, oops, I mean, child, it does not take even a small amount of genius to work out why someone like Matt Mitchum is a great guy and you are just plainly…not.
But don’t worry, there’s hope for you if you drag your fat arse out of your seat, put down the beer can and bible and actually do something constructive with your life. So, probably, uh, nope, there is no hope for you. You’re destined to be a gimp forever. Lucky you. Good luck with finding that non-existent girlfriend too. Ha!
Meanwhile, go Matt, you did your country proud and put the very tiny brains in the shade. Well done!
on Aug 23rd, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Im afraid i only just saw you dive tonight…never knew the results before i saw the replay of the days events…. U were just amazing… so i checked out ur profile.. not knowing anything about u….
Delighted to know u have your boyfriend and all the support u give one another. Enjoy every moment of ur win and celebrations…U made me cry to see ur excitement and joy when u came out of the pool knowing u had done so well.
A hugh congratulations… May god continue to bless u and ur boyfriend.
Ur Irish fan forever… Michael x
on Aug 23rd, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Super job well done. Best Wishes for a MOST Promising future!!!
Fan from Houston, TX USA
on Aug 23rd, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Matt:
Thank you for making a fellow out and proud Brisbane gay man that much prouder today - and all the way over here in Cardiff.
Mate, you’ve topped Madonna’s opening gig tonight here…we are all so damn proud of you and the support that Lachlan, your family, coach and support team have given you.
Thank you for being so real, generous, full of skill and spirit.
on Aug 24th, 2008 at 3:03 am
I have dealt with both coming out and depression. I cannot even begin to understand the struggle Matt must have had not only do deal with depression, but return to his sport and become an Olympian! Matt is a true hero, and he will affect more lives than he can possibloy imagine.
on Aug 24th, 2008 at 6:59 am
BRILLIANT AND HANDSOME. WELL DONE MATTHEW, GAY PRIDE OR WHAT! YOU GO GIRL.
on Aug 24th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Matthew says “Today is my birthday” in Chinese in the interview.
on Aug 25th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Wow WOW Woow! Matthew Mitcham ! First of all ! CONGRATULATIONS ! Excellent job !
Too bad for me our heart is already busy! 
You made us all proud to be part of our huge Gay Community all around the world!
This is the kind of people we need to show the world all the potential we have.
Second… Super SUPER CUTE GUY!
I will move to Australia just to meet you and get a kiss and a hug from you!
Just kiddind! Sorry Lachlan.. I had to say that, best wishes for both of you
Greetings from MEXICO for you and your mexican coach ! WELL DONE!
on Aug 25th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
hi
on Aug 25th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
I wonder if saying that we are gay makes any differences inthe sport world.
I’m gay, too but I think it shouldn’t the way it was in Matt’s case, to be in all papers around the world just because you are gay. I wish it could be just like any personal carateristic like eye colour, nationality. What do U think?? Can’t they just forget of our sexual election??
on Aug 26th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
on Aug 27th, 2008 at 12:37 am
Congratulations… He’s such a good athletes. Although the news shocked me that he is openly gay, i can’t help myself but to adore him more…
on Sep 9th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
hetero man sounds like so many ignorant people. why would he be caught by a bathroom toilet? Because he’s gay? How silly you sound that’s like equating all gays have deviant behavior, all Hispanics are baby makers, or all blacks are on welfare. Every sexual deviant isn’t gay. and if we went by your theory every old white man actually all white men would be molesters or incest raged maniacs. And for your information not all gay men are as promiscuous as Hollywood makes them out to be
on Sep 9th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
and why do we care if he’s gay , straight or non sexual he’s a diver that’s all we should be worried about. How he acts professionally right?
on Oct 20th, 2008 at 6:36 am
TO NON HETERO MAN - I did not know that there was an individual participating in the Olympics. I thought and was under the impression that there were thousands of participants. This page is about Matthew and not about stupidity!!!! I do want to say that I am very happy for you not only that you made a stand for yourself since I also do it in my town. That you achieve a gold medal for yourself and you have someone by your side and not in hidding.. That is who I would like to congratulate. For someone who doesn’t deny your persistents and courage to achieve your goals and for someone who also doesn’t deny who he is to you… Hi five to you and to others like myself.
on Nov 18th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
It makes me proud to see that we have advanced so far.
on Feb 3rd, 2009 at 11:16 am
WoW!!! So amazing for all of your accomplishments Matthew. Very bold and inspiring. Oh yea and hot!!!
on Mar 11th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
To “Hetero” man,
It’s been my experience that the only guys that hang around public toilets are closeted (and almost always heterosexually married) men. Probably just like you.
If you’re an out and proud gay man, like Matthew Mitcham, there is no way you would hang around dunnies , bogs, tearooms or as you dumb Americans call them “bathrooms” !
on Mar 11th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
@ Piglet of Pork St:
Do you just realize you attempted to insult someone based on them being American when clearly from their post they are not American. “Arse-bandit” is not an American term. You won’t see many if not any American use the term “Arse”.
That and your “dunnies, bogs and tearooms” are not actual words but foreign slang.
Don’t be rude and try to demoralize a person when in turn you end up making a fool of yourself.
on May 16th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Way to go, Matthew! You are my hero. Go for the gold in London in 2012.
on May 30th, 2009 at 12:15 am
Matthew Mitcham Video in Support of the Gay Games
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6tUxzjg3HI&feature=player_embedded
on Aug 7th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
total fail