The print, one of several done by Watson of Mitcham, will be used by Stonewall UK as a fundraising gift. Mitcham has also been the subject of many photographs taken by the artist.

An unsigned Mitcham in the “Storm Sun” goes for between $660 and $1,390, and a McKellen signature would greatly increase that. Mitcham will be in London trying to win his second gold medal, following his stunning 2008 win in the men’s 10-meter platform.

McKellen signs the Mitcham print:

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”Ideally I would like one day for sexuality to be as unimportant and uninteresting as hair color, or eye color or even just gender in general. One day it will get to that.

”But until it is easy for sports people to come out without fear of persecution or fear of lost sponsorship income and stuff like that, or fear of being comfortable in the team environment, I don’t mind attention being brought to my sexuality in the hope that it might make other people feel more comfortable … in being comfortable enough about who they are in their sporting environment.”

Mitcham’s Twitter feed describes him thusly: “Yes, I am that gay 2008-Olympic-gold-medal-winning diver dude. And yes, bro, I am quite sick.”

He is certainly rounding into top form, hitting a perfect dive this month while qualifying for the London Games. It is awesome that he continues to be a visible, articulate and effective spokesman for gay athletes while competing at a championship level. There is no athlete in London I will be rooting for more than Mitcham.

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“It’s nice to be back,” said Mitcham, 24. It looks like everything I’m doing is starting to work and fall into place. All my technique is starting to sharpen up a bit and I’m starting to dive like the old me again.”

Mitcham won the gold medal at Beijing in the 10-meter platform, upsetting the heavily favored Chinese, and became an instant celebrity for being an openly gay athlete. It will be awesome to watch him in London, rooting for him to get back-to-back gold.

Photos by Suzanne Ramke.

Hat tip to Noel.

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Mitcham lost the 10-meter platform event to Tom Daley of Britain, who had one dive that had perfect 10s.

“I blew it,” admitted Mitcham, after he fluffed his final dive to gift gold to his young rival. ‘I gave it away, which I really didn’t want to do. I was so close to winning,” he said, frustrated he didn’t dive ”even close to my best”.

Mitcham led in all four events, but won none of them. If he wants to repeat as Olympic gold medalist in 2012, he will have to up his game. The Chinese divers will be favorites, while Daley will have the home-pool advantage.

Mitcham, who is openly gay, was a bit hit with Indian fans, some of whom held up signs saying, “Matthew Mitcham: India loves you.” Said Mitcham: “I am swelling with pride that they are here to support me.”

Some gay Indian fans could not get tickets to Mitcham’s events because of a ticket snafu, but that did not stop some from gushing over having an openly gay athlete at the Games. Said one:

“A friend mentioned that a very hot gay swimmer is coming for the games and when I looked him up on the net, I knew I wanted to watch his moves, rather literally!”

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Mitcham was fourth after the first two rounds, then pulled off what was described as a “flawless new dive – an armstand-back double with a two-and-a-half twist – that earned perfect 10s from the judges.” Like in 2008, Mitcham beat two Chinese divers for the top spot.

“It is the second time I have beaten the Chinese on their home ground,” Mitcham said.

“The Chinese crowd is very supportive of me and they appreciated the good diving.

“Even though this is my second PB in a month, I still don’t feel I have dived my best and there is still room for improvement before the London 2012 Olympics.”

Mitcham, who is openly gay, said he is diving better than he did in Beijing. He showed again that he can perform in the clutch.

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By the way, Mitcham will be in Cologne for the Gay Games as well. While not competing, he will be making the rounds; So be sure to grab him and say hi!

Photos after the jump.

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I’m excited to be part of something so important for our communities around the globe. … Participating at the Gay Games is a great chance for all gays and lesbians to show that we as a community are not like the stereotypes the straight media loves to portray. I will take time off from training and travel to Cologne, since I strongly feel we have to celebrate our own values and help others to accept that it is ok to be different.

This is a big boon for the Gay Games. In the gay-sports world, there may be no bigger star than Mitcham. There are precious few celebrities I have any strong desire to meet, but Mitcham’s one; I certainly hope I run into him in Germany!

I chose the picture of Matthew above because he’s holding a gold medal from Gay Games VI in Sydney. I actually own two of those gold medals. Imagine that, I have a gold medal that Mitcham doesn’t have; While I treasure them, I’d trade my two for the one big gold medal he has in a heartbeat.

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Matthew Mitcham

Matthew Mitcham misfired on his final dive and finished out of the medals in the 10-meter platform event at the FINA world swimming and diving championships in Rome. This was the same event where the openly gay Aussie shocked the world last year at the Olympics by winning the gold with a sensational final dive.

Mitcham over-rotated his landing, making a huge splash. He buried his head in his hands after climbing out of the water, fully aware his chance to win another gold was gone.

“I didn’t quite save,” he said. “Sometimes you can save dives that are a bit over, and I really tried to fight for it, but I still kicked up a little bit of water.”

Mitcham and Qiu Bo of China were battling it out for the gold heading into the final dive, but both men botched it and the event was won by 15-year-old Tom Daley from Britain. Qiu won the silver and Zhou Luxin of China the bronze. Mitcham finished 1 point from a bronze.

One reporter, Nicole Jeffery of the Herald Sun, wrote that Mitcham is “too nice for his own good” by not putting enough pressure on Daley leading up to the final.

Mitcham doesn’t have the killer instinct that other competitors use to exploit their rivals’ weaknesses.

The Australian had identified Daley as the main threat for the title but would not say so publicly for fear of adding to the enormous expectation surrounding the British boy leading up to the 2012 London Olympics.

“I didn’t want to put pressure on him,” Mitcham said.

“I knew he felt the pressure in Beijing last year (where Daley finished seventh, aged 14) so I didn’t want to do that to him. But I thought he was diving the best in the world this year.”

Asked if he should have been more ruthless, Mitcham said: “It’s not the way I work. I believe in karma.”

Good for Mitcham. Every athlete deals with their event in their own way, and had he nailed his final dive (his degree of difficulty was higher than the dive performed by Daley), Mitcham would have won the gold. And no one can say that Mitcham can’t handle pressure, given his record-setting dive to win the 10-meter gold in Beijing. Mitcham has called Daley a “well-mannered, polite and friendly young man,” so he is showing class by not trying to play mind games with him.

A friend of mine watching coverage on NBC Universal said the commentators mentioned what a great thing it was for gays when Mitcham won the Olympic gold. This is the same NBC that had to apologize for not mention Mitcham being openly gay during its Olympic coverage.

However, in a positive sign, writers covering the event have not referred to Mitcham being gay, and are simply discussing his performance in the context of the competition. This shows that he will not be permanently labeled the “gay diver.” I suspect this would be the case of any openly gay athlete once the curiosity factor wears off.

Mitcham won a bronze medal in Rome in the 1-meter springboard, and did not medal in the 3-meter.

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Mitcham after arriving back in Sydney.

Olympic gold medal diver Matthew Mitcham is showing no signs of swine flu after returning early to Australia from Mexico where he was attending a diving competition. He will stay home in a voluntary isolation for a couple of days as a precautionary measure.

Mitcham, 21, will stay at home with his partner [Lachlan Fletcher], who has bought face masks and anti-flu medicine.

“We got tested before we got on the plane in Mexico and were all asymptomatic,” Mitcham said. “I would have to pash [kiss] you for you to get it.”

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