Two weeks after shocking the diving world by winning the gold medal in Olympic platform diving, Australian Matthew Mitcham has been honored with a stamp but as yet has secured no sponsorship deals, though one is rumored. Read complete article here.

Thanks to a reader for this adorable photo of Australian gold medal diver Matthew Mitcham and his partner Lachlan Fletcher. I am not sure when it was taken, but they certainly look like the happy couple. For more photos, videos and articles about Mitcham’s gold-medal diving performance check out our Matthew Mitcham archive.

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Outsports got some prominent featuring on today’s Dan Patrick radio show. He had me on for about 15 minutes to talk about NBC not mentioning Mitcham’ sexuality. I found DP very engaging (duh) and thoughtful on the topic. The discussion went on for another 20 to 30 minutes after I got off the phone between DP and a couple other guys on the show, as well as callers. Their conversation further strengthened my fear that many people in sports media just don’t know what to do with gay sports stories. DP was wary of getting the story right, which was thoughtful and professional; my beef wasn’t with him. The other guys, on the other hand, were against mentioning the gay aspect of the story at all and missed the journalistic angle of the story. As I’ve said, many people in sports journalism aren’t journalists; they’re just fans with a voice.

[Link to the audio, after the jump.]

NBC Olympics President Gary Zenkel has issued an apology for his reporting team not mentioning on air that gold-medal diver Matthew Mitcham is gay and has a partner:

“We regret that we missed the opportunity to tell Matthew Mitcham’s story. We apologize for this unintentional omission.”

The statement comes after an NBC spokesperson defended the network’s decision not to mention it.

The Games of the XXIX Olympiad are in the books. The USA came in and snatched up medals left and right and won the overall medal count, though China did end up with quite a few more golds. We got to see Aquaman win 8 gold medals and The Flash redefine sprinting with his 2 golds. In an important moment for queer athletes worldwide, we got to see an out gay man walk away with Gold in 10m platform diving. But there were a couple of stories that you may not have seen that are equally compelling and show why they do this little world party every 4 years:

NBC defended its decision not mention Australian diver Matthew Mitcham’s sexual orientation with a series of answers that were more spin than fact.

Matthew Mitcham made me cry.

It takes a lot for me to weep while watching sports, but that’s how moving his gold-medal diving performance was Saturday in Beijing.

I teared up when he first saw the score from his final five and looked on in disbelief.

It’s been a while since USA men’s basketball stood atop the international-competition basketball world, but on top they are now after a 118-107 win over Spain in the gold-medal game in Beijing. LeBron James said after the game that it may go down as “one of the greatest Olympic games ever.” I can’t wait to see it. It’s been cool to see these NBA stars finally back “into” the Olympic movement. With the women taking the gold the day before, it’s good to see the basketball crowns back where they rightfully belong.

The real story that Bob Costas won’t discuss — because NBC invested $900 million in broadcast rights for Beijing and had to deliver a feel-good Olympics for their advertisers — is the explosive dimension of athlete activism before the Games.  Jacques Rogge won’t discuss it either.  But as IOC president, Rogge was surely involved in pre-Games defusing of a dangerous and complicated situation that involved a number of countries.  It was international sports realpolitik at its best.

A terrific 15-minute video edited from the worldwide Olympic feed showing all six of Mitcham’s final dives, the celebration after where he hugs practically every diver, the medal ceremony and him jumping into the stands to give his flowers and a kiss to his partner, Lachlan Fletcher. After the jump.

When Matthew Mitcham greeted the media after winning his 10-meter platform diving gold, he raced over to hug reporter Jessica Halloran of the Sydney Morning Herald, who wrote Mitcham’s coming out story with great sensitivity back in May. Halloran followed up today with the only article I could find that discusses Mitcham’s relationship with his partner, Lachlan Flecther.

He kissed him briefly in the stands and gave him his Olympic bouquet. Later, outside the glowing blue Water Cube, Matthew Mitcham and his partner, Lachlan Fletcher, firmly embraced, both shedding tears. …

It was disappointing to see NBC not mention anything about Matthew Mitcham’s sexuality. The biggest reason for me is a journalistic reason: It’s a big story. The only openly gay male athlete in Beijing pulled off one of the great upsets at the Olympics in a spectacular fashion. If he had had cancer, or if his parents had been killed in a car crash when he was 2, or if he had just proposed to his girlfriend, they would have mentioned it. But they never showed him hugging his boyfriend, never mentioned it. They referred to “personal problems,” but I’m afraid they decided Matthew’s sexuality was off limits. A real shame.

Yahoo agrees:

So, I’m sitting here, doing something I promised myself not to do –actually watch even so much as a second of the men’s basketball games– and NBC cut away at half-time for an interview with Bob Costas and IOC President Jacques Rogge. If this interview were a sport, Rogge would be on the stand accepting a gold medal, while Costas would already be back at the Olympic village playing video games.

Suarez is the talented Cuban who won the bronze in the decathlon. Outsports contributing photographer Finneye captured these great images of Suarez at a meet this May in Austria.

Rogers (the guy with the facial hair) and Dalhausser (the bald guy, right) won the men’s beach volleyball gold. Rogers is known the “The Professor” and Dalhausser “The Beast.” Brent Mullins has shot the team in Southern California tournaments and presents some great shots after the jump.

The best images from the final day of competition, including gold medal diver Matthew Mitcham, a shirtless javelin champ and more, courtesy of Finneye. At right, is part of an awesome portrait of the German handball team. Links after the jump.

Great video of Matthew Mitcham talking outside the diving arena after winning the gold medal, flanked by his mom, Vivienne, and his partner, Lachlan Fletcher. Mitcham is very funny and endearing:

Matthew Mitcham’s boyfriend, Lachlan Fletcher, was in the stands when he won the 10-meter platform gold. I found this Reuters picture and was wondering if anyone out there knows if the guy on the left is Lachlan?  Thanks!

Update: It is Mitcham’s partner, Lachlan. Screen capture from Aussie TV after the jump. Here is a nice profile of Mitcham and Fletcher’s relationship.

Cuba’s Angel Matos earned a special place in Olympic History as “Dumbest Olympic Athlete” today.  He was taking time out for an injury and he delayed too long getting ready to fight again.  The referee ejected him and Matos decided to strike back.  Jim Lampley said in his broadcast, “…Because after all, it’s the first rule in Tae Kwon Do: you cannot kick the referee in the head.”

That was a question we touched upon in my gays in sports media panel at the NLGJA Convention this morning just after Mitcham won gold. They didn’t mention it Friday night during the semis. But for them to not mention that the only publicly out male athlete in Beijing won a gold medal would be ignoring a major angle to the story. They have it on his NBCOlympics.com profile. We’ll see if they mention it tonight.

Bob Ballard is covering diving for the BBC. He wrote this account of Mitcham’s gold-medal performance for Outsports.

By Bob Ballard

We knew it was a good last dive - everyone in the commentary area sprang out of their chairs like they had suddenly been electrocuted, but when the marks came up, a hush descended on the Water Cube, while the commentators, myself included, went into overdrive.

In one of the biggest upsets at the Beijing Olympics, out diver Matthew Mitcham won a gold medal in the 10m platform. The Chinese were heavily favored in the event, and Mitcham was behind Zhou Luxin by about 35 points going into the final dive. But Mitcham hit an unbelievable score of 112.10 on his sixth and final dive to win by just over three points.

“It’s absolutely surreal. I never thought that this would be possible,” Mitcham said.

Statistically speaking, out athletes have been, as a group, disproportionately successful at these Olympic Games. The 11 openly GLBT athletes Outsports has followed over the past two weeks raked in 4 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze medal. In other words, 64% of out athletes won a medal; a third of all out athletes won a gold medal. The medalists are:

Gold: Matthew Mitcham, Australia (Diving, 10m platform); Natasha Kai, USA (Soccer); Gro Hammerseng & Katya Nyberg, Norway (Handball)

Silver: Lauren Lappin and bi athlete Vicky Galindo, USA (Softball)

Bronze: Linda Bresonik, Germany (Soccer)

The latest batch of great photos selected by Finneye as we head into the final weekend, including a little wrestling grab-ass. Links after the jump.

Australian diver Matthew Mitcham, whom we are following since he is the only openly gay male Olympian, has qualified for the finals at the men’s 10-meter platform and will dive for a medal early Saturday U.S. time.