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.
By Cyd Zeigler jr.
45 responses so far ↓
1 Scott T. // Aug 23, 2008 at 1:44 pm
They better do it or they are bigots. This is the biggest win ever for an out male athlete. This is a major story. I also want to know if he was able to get his bf to come with him to the Olympics. There was a question about that before the Olympics.
2 TJ // Aug 23, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Do they mention anyone else’s sexual orientation when a medal is awarded? Why should they mention his?
This is a sporting event, not a political platform.
3 Jeanne // Aug 23, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Since when is sexual orientation political?
And to be honest - they often mention the sexual orientation, in nearly every article about Yang Wei (and also on German TV) they mentioned that he is going to marry his girlfriend (another gymnast), they talked about Bekele, who lost his fiancee a few years ago, they talked about the personal life of Stephanie Rice (Australian swimmer), because she somehow broke up with one of the other Australian swimmers.
And on German TV the commentator mentioned during one of the handball games Norway won, that two of the ladies are a couple.
It was also very funny during the men table tennis finale today, the commentator said that “the winner will be looking forward to relax after this tournament, to hang out with his girlfriend” - commentator hesitated shortly and adds - “or boyfriend, I don’t know which it is” Of course the commentator just tried to be PC.
Plus, they showed Phelps mom and sisters a zillion times during the olympics and talked about them. All this is private life - and I think that they can, you know, just mention that Mitcham’s boyfriend is in the crowd.
4 Chris S // Aug 23, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Scott T –I understand that Johnson & Johnson, which runs a program to support families of Olympic athletes, gave Mitcham and his partner a $5,000 grant so his partner could attend. Not sure if that’s Australian or American dollars, but whatever, it was cool. In any event, he was there.
5 Sambo // Aug 23, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Beat me to it Jeanne
As far as I know TJ, gay is not a political party. There have been many human interest stories about oppressed athletes regarding race and class. To not mention that he is the only out male athlete does set a standard - based on their previous stories - that being gay is taboo. If you are a self-respecting gay man or woman, I can’t see how you wouldn’t want NBC to mention it.
6 Jim Buzinski // Aug 23, 2008 at 2:09 pm
“Do they mention anyone else’s sexual orientation when a medal is awarded? Why should they mention his?”
Hah! Of course, they do, everytime they show a wife, a girlfriend, a husband or boyfriend of an athlete, they are saying to the world — these people are heterosexuals. The significant other reax is a staple of sports coverage. They need to show Matt’s SO, who was in the stands.
7 Chinay // Aug 23, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Why should they mention this?He’s an splendid athlete. It’s enough.I’m a gay, too. I ‘m so proud of him.
8 TJ // Aug 23, 2008 at 2:20 pm
German TV sounds a lot different than NBC. I agree that sexual orientation itself is not political.
But calling NBC bigots (as the previous poster did) for not mentioning it turns this into a political platform.
9 canmark // Aug 23, 2008 at 2:28 pm
I don’t think that the NEED to mention that he is gay in the coverage, unless it is relevant to what is going on. For example, if they show his parents and bf in the stands, they might mention that it is his parents and bf. Or if they talk about his past, how he had left diving but made a return–and his coming out publicly was part of his return. But in terms of analyzing the dives, that he is gay is not directly relevant. After the fact, however, when one looks back at some of the big stories at the Olympics, I think then it is relevant because it presents a unique slant to his story. But during the competition itself, the fact that he prevented the Chinese sweep in diving is a bigger story.
10 TJ // Aug 23, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Hey Jim,
To assume someone is heterosexual just because they have a significant other who is of the opposite gender would not always be correct.
11 canmark // Aug 23, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I wanted to add that I might expect that the Australian media would mention that he’s gay because they are much closer to his story, and likely would have shown a profile piece on him, etc. And I think even Mitcham himself, would rather be known as a gold medal winning diver who happens to be gay–not the gay diver who happened to win the gold medal. As he said in The Advocate article, “I just want to be known as the Australian diver who did really well at the Olympics. It’s everybody else who thinks it’s special when homosexuality and elite sport go together.”
12 Alasdair // Aug 23, 2008 at 2:56 pm
If the games are not political, why don’t athletes just compete as athletes, and leave nationality out of it? As far as I’m concerned, everything is political, because politics is the mechanism by which societies determine who owns what, who gets to do what, and what can or cannot be done with legitimate sanction. If they hadn’t made eating in restaurants or riding trains or integrating the armed forces into political issues, African Americans would still be second class, semi-citizens.One blogger I read regularly noted how few British Olympians are from ordinary, working class backgrounds. The majority come from UK public schools and wealthy families. That is a political angle to the Olympics that I think is very important - why should the opportunity to develop one’s athletic skills depend on how wealthy one’s family is, or on where in the UK they reside, or what school their family can afford?
13 Alasdair // Aug 23, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Speaking of politics and the Olympics, there is a huge fight brewing over soccer. Scotland, Wales, England and British Northern Ireland compete as individual nations in soccer, for instance, in the World Cup (if they qualify). But the Olympics does not want that, and FIFA is pushing to force the UK to compete as a single nation as well. But the fan associations are vehemently opposed to it. If all that is not political, I don’t know what is.
14 Diogenes Arktos // Aug 23, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Let’s give NBC some credit for identifying Alexandre Despatie’s synchronized diving partner as his “best friend”. They also picked him out of the stands when Despatie was diving solo.
15 random acts of kindness // Aug 23, 2008 at 3:37 pm
like who cares, except for the handful of middle class white people who randomly know that he’s gay because they have no lifehonestly, a men’s a diviing icon just epitomizes the superfical male centered oppression within the mainstream gay community, so this would not at all be progressive.
16 Gary // Aug 23, 2008 at 3:41 pm
How many times have we heard commentators say “she has 2 children at home”, or “his wife and family are in the stands”? To mention a gay athlete’s sexual orientation is no different. Besides if the cameras swing up to a partner in the stands I would think folks watching would want to know why.
17 random acts of kindness // Aug 23, 2008 at 3:45 pm
i mean, maybe im wrong….but i doubt any of you got off the couch when people were protesting the games for other human rights issues (e.g. burma and tibet)…i mean, NBC might talk about him bein gay because it makes for an interesting story line, but i dont think them not doing it makesthem bigots any more than you are if there is an interest or market for that story, then they will give it if it is worth the price. i mean, there are so many other gender and sexuality issues with the olympics, and you cant just be myopic and focus on the one white open gay male just because it will makeyou feel good about yourself in your individual personal life
18 random acts of kindness // Aug 23, 2008 at 3:48 pm
yeah, i mean heteronormativity is pervasive and i dont think spotlighting one successful alternative should be you emphasis…how about structural or institutional changes. i mean, both are important, but if the rule is wrong, an exception can only do so much in restructuring that rule.
19 TJ // Aug 23, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Gary,How does mentioning “2 children at home” identify sexual orientation? Gay people don’t have children? Gay people don’t have families?
How often does NBC mention/show family when the athlete competing is not American?
I certainly am not opposed to them mentioning it if they so choose. But I don’t see why they should feel obligated to do so.
20 Jeanne // Aug 23, 2008 at 4:10 pm
“i mean, maybe im wrong….but i doubt any of you got off the couch when people were protesting the games for other human rights issues (e.g. burma and tibet)…”
Well, maybe you are. This is about a cool very young guy who went out there, did his best and won the whole thing. Even if I didn’t know he was gay - I would have been routing for him all the same, in every interview with him he came over as honest, sincere, funny guy with a heart (and now a medal) of gold. And the fact that he was at this very young age brave enough to tell the world that he is gay - makes it even more important in my eyes.
And perhaps I see this a bit too simple, but if I think of boys (and girls) in their teens - sitting at home in front of their TVs, some of them trying to come to terms with their sexuality - or struggling with being different because of other reasons - I am happy that at the Olympics they could see a guy, not much older than themselves, who went out there, gave his best and stayed true to himself. Because “structural or institutional changes” won’t help these kids much in their situations - because this is about feelings, not about politics. IMO this is an emotional victory and has nothing to do with politics.
Oh, and by the way, I had lots of great moments on the couch - with my amnesty international group folding leaflets that explained the human rights situation in China. Are we allowed to say bitch in these comments?
21 Jim Allen // Aug 23, 2008 at 6:50 pm
like who cares, except for the handful of middle class white people who randomly know that he’s gay because they have no life
Says the person whose life is so full that they’ve posted 3 times on this thread [insert eye rolling emoticon]
honestly, a men’s a diviing icon just epitomizes the superfical male centered oppression within the mainstream gay community, so this would not at all be progressive.
FAIL. Right, an athlete being L, B or Q is soooooo radical, I mean, it’s SO rare! Oh…wait….it’s NOT, it’s so common that there’s, what? 19 out lesbians in Beijing and ONE out man.
you cant just be myopic and focus on the one white open gay male just because it will makeyou feel good about yourself in your individual personal life
God, you’re as dense as a neutron star, aren’t you? This is GAY website, run by gay MEN, what do you expect them to write about? An openly gay man won a gold medal, that’s news! Just because he wasn’t a half-black/one-quarter Asian/one-quarter Native American bisexual with a lifelong asthma problem who struggled up from poverty after being sexually molested by their uncle, Matt Mitcham’s story shouldn’t be highlighted? You want coverage about black women not getting slots on the swim team and the socio-economic reasons for that or whatever, start your own website.
That annoys me something fierce, the whole “Waaaaaah! WAAAAAAAH! You’re not writing about what I want to see written about! WAAAAAAH” rubbish. It takes 2 minutes to start a blog, so quit complaining because the editorial choices here don’t meet your approval.
Scotland, Wales, England and British Northern Ireland compete as individual nations in soccer, for instance, in the World Cup (if they qualify)
A big IF, isn’t it?
Nice post at 2:56 pm, BTW.
22 random acts of kindness // Aug 23, 2008 at 7:23 pm
ill be the first to admit that im probably just bitter and whining…but what can i do? but i really dont think you can cleanly separate politics and “emotions and feelings.” keep an eye out for liza dugan’s “feelin neo liberal” (in press).
and i am tired of this romantic fantasy of the young well fed middle class boy struggling with his nascent homosexuality, seeing mitcham on the TV and deriving pure positive inspiration from his role model performance. like, at the same time there’s probably a gay guy kid watching and getting an eating disorder because he’ll never resemble the body that the media is glorifying. and this “great friendly” mitcham (probably so happy because of his white privilege LOL)….isnt he the one who tried to use the “gay card” in getting some corporate sponsor to foot the bill for his boyfriends plane ticket to china????? hahaha he might as well just explicitly prostitute himself, NOT THAT I HAVE BEEF WITH SEX LABORERS…LOLanyway, i’ll probably watch the diving to tonight and actually fall in love with mitcham and be happy for his success when all is said and done. but sue me for pissing on your parade when you know darn well there are plenty of pit falls for all the uncritical glorification outsports and other gay sport proponents project onto these pretty gay white buff bodies. it may boost some spectators self esteem, but it certainly marginalizes others.
23 Pete // Aug 23, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Can I just say that the coverage by the Australian media has been appalling, during the telecast the commentator on Channel 7 mentioned that his mum and sister where there and he had the support of all 20 million Australians…no mention at all about his partner. Of the articles I have seen in the papers most of them don’t mention it either, but I will give credit to The Age website as it has a rather nice report. http://www.theage.com.auhttp://www.theage.com.au/news/diving/a-perfect-10/2008/08/23/1219262633209.html
24 random acts of kindness // Aug 23, 2008 at 7:45 pm
“Oh, and by the way, I had lots of great moments on the couch - with my amnesty international group folding leaflets that explained the human rights situation in China. Are we allowed to say bitch in these comments?” lol ok, you really proved yourself. i can just picture you putting your neck out on the frontline of global oppression, rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty for some HRC diet activism LOL…come on honey
25 random acts of kindness // Aug 23, 2008 at 7:47 pm
that’s funny he’s actually really flat footed in that picture from the link above…wonder if he got deducted for that
26 michael // Aug 23, 2008 at 11:09 pm
I didn’t hear any mention of it
27 mark // Aug 23, 2008 at 11:19 pm
I didn’t either–though they did mention unspecified “personal problems.”
28 Scott T. // Aug 24, 2008 at 2:44 am
Being gay isn’t a personal problem. NBC never fails to mention other athletes wifes or girlfriends or boyfriends. So either they are cowardly Hippocrates or bigots.
29 KJ // Aug 24, 2008 at 3:03 am
To call NBC hypocritical bigots is a bit extreme. Yes, every time they show a wife or girlfriend, they are indeed intimating that athlete’s sexual orientation. However, the actual storyline for the diving event was the Chinese team’s dominance, and that they were going for a gold medal sweep. After his dismal showing in earlier rounds, Matt Mitchum was more of an editorial afterthought cum spoiler. They probably didn’t expect much, not to mention he is an Australian athlete, and out coverage does favor the also-ran American effort over the international athlete. Had Finchum and Boudia been out (my opinion), I’m sure NBC would have incorporated the gay angle into their coverage.Besides, from the way he waved to the camera and flitted toward his coach after his dives, it’s not like there was any question that he was gay anyways.
30 Jim Allen // Aug 24, 2008 at 3:05 am
anyway, i’ll probably watch the diving to tonight and actually fall in love with mitcham and be happy for his success when all is said and done.
Liar. From the Mitcham wins gold thread:
random acts of kindness: woohoo!!!! i new post boy for white supremacist male domination and cultural imperialism!!!!!!!!!
God, you’re like a parody of The Angry Leftist that was tired and boring in 1970 and I say that as someone who would rather gouge my eyes out than vote for conservative candidates. Because, let me tell you, unless you’re Aung San Suu Kyi who has somehow found a way to post to a gay sports website, you’re just another spoiled rotten Western dilettante who talks about oppression and all that “fight the power” bullshit that was laughable back in the Queer Nation days….while typing nonsense on the Internet on a Saturday night.
You know what happens when Jim and Cyd post shots of athletes of color? They get e-mails accusing them of being racists who only care about blacks when they can objectify them etc. etc. They literally can’t win: they either are white supremacists or the internet equivalent of a straight dude who only dates Asian women because “they don’t talk back”.
31 Sambo // Aug 24, 2008 at 4:03 am
@ randoma acts of kindness
I really have to agree with Jim Allen on this one. You two are already in a flame war but you’re overcomplicating this issue - bringing abuses in Tibet and Burma into the fray. The writers were not calling this the most egregious error, only that it was “ignoring a major angle” in the story.
Also what is all this hoopla about the “superficial oppression”. Just because the ONE out gay male athlete who happens to be a beast diver and win gold is a good-looking white dude does not make it racial supremacy or superficial bias. I’m sure there are many gay male gold medalists of color at this Olympics but - Banjee boys or not - they are not out.
I completely agree with Jim Allen. You remind of all the girls at my high school who apologized to me for their white guilt or said they were offended when people called me nigga. You’re attempts to be PC or intellectual just make you look dumb. Go back to Middlebury.
32 James // Aug 24, 2008 at 6:41 am
Since when is an athelete’s sexual orientation annonced as part of the Olympic medal presentation? If they are going to announce one athelete’s gay orientation then perhaps they should annouce the sexual orietation of every gold medal winner. Can you image how this is going to sound…..” On the podium the gold medal for (insert sport) goes to heterosexual (insert athelete’s name) of (insert country they are representing)”…..and so on down the line! Ridiculous if it’s even relevent!
33 Nicholas // Aug 24, 2008 at 6:49 am
James, all they needed to do was pan to his mother and his boyfriend in the stands, and identify them as such. They do the same for countless straight athletes.
34 RBearSAT // Aug 24, 2008 at 9:15 am
No mention nor was I looking for it. Sorry but since he was Australian and not the favorite he wasn’t going to get a lot of coverage anyway. Heck he landed in first place only because the Chinese diver botched his last dive. NBC wasn’t expecting to see him in the gold to start with.If he had been American we might have had more coverage of the issue. You knew they weren’t going to mention it and posted this just to get a rise out of the Outsports crowd (kind of like your attempt to dimminish Phelps gold medals?).If you really analyzed the sports aspect of this you knew (yea, I’ve already laid out the reasons why) NBC was going to focus on his dives and not his orientation. Honestly I think it might have taken away from the real story that he came from a lousy showing in 3m springboard to top 3 in 10m platform which takes a TON of balls to do, more than most of us in here.Matthew excelled and shocked the crowd (and BOCOG as well by winning over the Chinese. Congrats to Matthew. Enjoy your time in that elite crowd of people, the Olympic gold medal winners. It is going to change your life forever.
35 Jay Original // Aug 24, 2008 at 12:24 pm
It’s called disparate treatment. We just want to be treated like the heterosexuals get treated in terms of coverage. The Olympics are about sport but NBC made time to discuss the personal lives of other athletesMaggie Hendricks makes a great point in an article about Mitcham on Yahoo: UPDATE: NBC did not mention Mitcham’s orientation, nor did they show his family and partner who were in the stands. NBC has made athletes’ significant others a part of the coverage in the past, choosing to spotlight track athlete Sanya Richards‘ fiancee, a love triangle between French and Italian swimmers andKerri Walsh’s wedding ring debacle. To call someone whining because they point out a difference in treatment is like saying that people who call others whiners are just self-hating gays. It’s gets us no where.
36 Jay Original // Aug 24, 2008 at 12:27 pm
The comment at the end about self-hating gays and whining gays is mine…not a quote from Ms. Hendricks.
37 Miriam // Aug 24, 2008 at 7:26 pm
I am a very ordinary married Australian woman with children and I can’t tell you how happy and proud I was of Matthew Mitcham. Your partner is a big part of who you are and it brought tears to my eyes to see this lovely young man and his partner Lachlan celebrating their victory together. They are obviously a loving couple and I can only wish that more gay athletes would ‘come out’ and say ‘to hell with anyone who has a problem with it - get over it’.
38 random acts of kindness // Aug 24, 2008 at 8:51 pm
i mean the closet is a western invention. so yeah, all the people who “happen” to be out of it and doing great things, are inevitably going to be white. i think it’s good that jim and cyb get critical feedback. it comes with the territory, and it is their obligation to always be questioning the implications of what they produce. so i certainly don’t pity them for getting critical feedback, even if it seems contradictory or confusing – such is life.
im not totally against jim and cyd. i commended them for including an excerpt from toby miller’s sportsex that i really liked and went out to go read as a result. i thought it was nice that they gave us some critical tools with which we could interpret the many images that they disseminate. and i think it is good that people are putting pressure on NBC and drawing attention to the double standard and heteronormativity that pervades their coverage. but i dont know if one exception is going to change that…its a very romantic fantasy to have one “hero” e.g. matthew mitcham make meaningful change instead of systematic and sometimes piecemeal work
39 Yarddog // Aug 24, 2008 at 11:02 pm
For NBC to not mention that Mr. Mictcham is gay goes against the basic rules of journalism … It is a story! When a good story is NOT told something other than then honest reporting is happening. In this case it is NBC and the world of sports in general that more often than not represents a homophobic attitude. Few journalist on record are more homophobic than Mr. Costis … a good Greek boy who should remember what his family faced …
40 random acts of kindness // Aug 25, 2008 at 1:56 am
yarddog?
really, he’s homophobic? how so? examples? this is news to me, but i dont know much about him
41 Jim Buzinski // Aug 25, 2008 at 3:14 am
I would also like examples of Costas being homophobic because I have never seen it. He was the only reporter who got Colts coach Tony Dungy on record talking about having a gay player, something no other mainstream journalist asked him about after Dungy spoke before an anti-gay organization.
42 Larry // Aug 25, 2008 at 9:11 am
you would think that the biggest story for the sports media would be, as 356 Gay mentions in an article,that Mitcham earned the highest scoring dive in the history of the Olympics with his sixth and final dive.
43 Blue Revolution // Aug 25, 2008 at 9:41 am
The NBC Olympics website does mention he is gay and his partner in his bio.
http://www.nbcolympics.com/athletes/athlete=1168/bio/index.html
44 badlydrawnbear // Aug 25, 2008 at 4:53 pm
I am really shocked at some of the comments, especially about Mitcham’s sexuality being a non issue and should not have been mentioned. If the commentors really view being gay in sports that much of a non issue then why are the reading a GAY sports blog? ESPN would surely suffice. I have to strongly agree with the editors that the Olympics coverage is notorious for sappy back stories about triumph over adversity and the support of family and loved ones, so notorious people have invented ’sap-o-meters’ to gage how over the top the coverage becomes. To not mention Mitchum’s partner WHO IS IN THE STANDS jumping up and down next to his mother they way they surely would have done if it had been a fiance or girlfriend is BS on NBC’s part hands down.
45 Tom // Aug 25, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Maybe NBC didn’t mention his sexual orientation because gay is the default sexuality of divers generally???
Leave a Comment