Comments on: Is homophobia costing Mitcham?

By: Igour Maltsev

Igour Maltsev — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:11:42 +0000

It is a great problem of mankind.
You need some arguments and laws to find.
I’m waiting for a very strong,incredible love.
May be it’s going by train or flying high above . . .

By: Ray

Ray — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 14:21:20 +0000

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,,25022637-5001021,00.html

By: Ray

Ray — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 14:20:07 +0000

Good News,
It appears Mitcham has secured sponsorship from Australia’s largest telecommunication company – Telstra. The details of the sponsorship are provided in the link.

By: David

David — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 09:56:52 +0000

He’s Australian. That’s what he has against him. A non-American just isn’t going to catch the media’s attention unless you’ve won multiple golds like Ian Thorpe.

By: DJ - Jim's Friend

DJ - Jim's Friend — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 07:30:27 +0000

I’ve gone over the idea of Kellog’s endorsing Mitcham, it’s a stretch but I don’t see why they can’t do it. I would argue that I don’t know of any diver ever being endorsed from whichever respected country they were from. So point me in the right direction? No touching though, got enough of that today.

Couldn’t he get an endorsement from Speedo or TYR?

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 13:58:19 +0000

Well unfortunately, like on has already said on here, that you have to strike while the iron is still hot. Of course, he is a great role model for not only the GLAAD community but for other striving athletes that want to give up like Mitch did. To come back and retrain and nonetheless, stopping the sweep of the Chinese divers, that was incredible. But here in the US, the diving was such an afterthough on the last full night on the Olympics… Great story, especially in Australia, but it may be too late…. Maybe he can jump on Kellogg’s now that Michael Phelps has been let go due to his bong. Which in itself… Come on, Kellogg’s get over it!

By: DJ - Jim's Friend

DJ - Jim's Friend — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 02:46:17 +0000

Well, one thing hasn’t be brought forth to the table. He hasn’t sent out any cover letters to these companies promising them such and such in exchange for endorsement. While the idea sounds cliche, I’m sure there’s at least one company out there that would do such, right?

By: SFTom

SFTom — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 20:44:33 +0000

You’re overthinking this issue. Diving is, at best, a fringe sport (with homoerotic overtones), in terms of the American public’s interest in it, so excelling at the sport does not translate into significant promotional value in the United States. Mark Lenzi, a straight, photogenic diver from Indiana, won a gold medal in Barcelona in 1992. I don’t recall that he obtained any significant promotional gigs. The more interesting hypothetical is whether Michael Phelps would have succeeded (leaving aside the pot incident) in obtaining promotional offers if he had been openly gay while competing. I think his achievements, and the public’s greater appreciation of and personal experience with the strength and stamina required to swim fast and far, would have secured him those promotional opportunities, regardless of any issue of sexuality.

By: steven r

steven r — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 17:21:51 +0000

I can’t agree that homophobia has any role in Mticham’s lack of endorsements. First, the Advocate story makes it clear that Mitcham’s overly picky management is hindering his endorsement deals while the clock on his 15 minutes of fame is winding down. Second, Australia is not a bastion of homophobia where a gay athlete, or any person, is shunned; Mitcham even was on a postage stamp, a highly visible honor.

Jim’s point is right: diving does not carry the cache that swimming does. It’s not an accurate comparison of Mitham to Phelps. How about Olympic diving legend Greg Louganis, who was still fully in the closet during his multiple-gold medal reign. He also was not as celebrated as gold medal swimmer Mark Spitz years earlier. Homophobia was not a factor then. What endorsements did Louganis get? None that I recall.

By: Jay Original

Jay Original — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 17:15:55 +0000

Dear Ben,

I stand by my word. “Gay sports blogs” was not meant as a slam, I’ve been coming to this site for 8 years now. I was actually pointing to how much more enlightened and forward thinking we are on certain issues. Still, this conversation while happening on Out Front is not happening on CNNSI, ESPN, Huffington Post, NY Times, Yahoo, etc. On that note, NBC slighting Mitcham’s partner during its coverage was something I read about on non-gay oriented sites too.

Face it, having a lax attitude didn’t help this guy. But in the last week he’s on the cover of the Advocate and all over the internet in a speedo looking hot, so if he can’t swing a gay focused deal from this coverage, then like I said, he needs to live and learn.