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.
“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 and Kerri Walsh’s wedding ring debacle”
In fact, it’s not easy to find a mention of him being gay in the press today at all. Only a handful of sites and newspapers are mentioning it. Even the New York Times decided to not mention his sexuality, or his struggle to get his partner to Beijing with him. People will say, “it’s not part of the story, he’s just an athlete,” but they are wrong. His sexuality, specifically because he’s the ONLY ONE, and because gay men are painted as unathletic in our culture, makes it a big part of the story.
Some of the few places that did include it:
Los Angeles Times: “Not only did he quit diving, but he battled depression and then took a big step, coming out in an interview…”
U.K.’s Guardian: “Matthew Mitcham did two surprising things in Beijing. He scooped a gold medal from the apparently invincible Chinese diving team and told anyone who asked that he is gay.”
Sydney Morning Herald: “From teenage retirement to Royal Easter Show high-diver to gay icon to gold Olympic medallist; Matthew Mitcham’s journey to success has been an amazing roller-coaster.”
Monsters & Critics: “…he did not only have the support of a sports-mad country behind him, he also had the support of a large part of the gay community.”
Update: NBC defends its decision.
By Cyd Zeigler jr.
33 responses so far ↓
1 canmark // Aug 24, 2008 at 9:52 am
Cyd, might I quote your own blog entry: “It seems the editors [referring to Mitcham's Advocate cover article] just look at Louganis as a “gay diver,” not one of the great divers of all time and one of the most-revered Olympic athletes in the last 50 years. I’m also not so sure it would be some earth-shattering moment for gay athletes, either. He is a diver; we’ve seen gay divers. And if you ask your average Joe on the street, he’d probably ask you, “isn’t every male diver gay?” It certainly would be cool, but ’significant’?” THEN (Aug. 1) you questioned whether Mitcham being gay was “significant”, yet now you chastise the mainstream media for not trumpeting this fact. Mitcham himself says he wants to be known as as great Australian diver, not just the ‘gay diver’ (paraphrase). Yes, that Mitcham is the first out gay male to win a gold medal is a story, but that may be a story for another day, when one is reflecting on the great stories of the Olympics. And further, while we do know about the personal lives of many Olympic athletes, I don’t recall the media talking about the personal relationships of any of the Chinese divers who won gold, either.
2 RBearSAT // Aug 24, 2008 at 10:05 am
Thanks canmark for setting this blog post straight. This was a non-issue in my mind. As I pointed out in the other blog, the real thing that NBC was focusing on was that Mitcham came from a low point his Olympic career to top 3 in the toughest of diving events, the 10m platform (heck, every time I watch them go into a handstand I hold my breath). Let’s put this post to rest and move on to other issues and events. I applaud Matthew for coming back from the poor showing in 3m springboard to winning the 10m. That’s Olympic fortitude. Now that he is a gold medalist he can be a shining role model. Yea, Matthew get ready for the fun and pressures of that new role but you’ll do fine. Stick to the things that got you there. For Cyd and Jim, stick to the things that keep Outsports a great GLBT sports site, consistency and a focus on sports.
3 TJ // Aug 24, 2008 at 11:20 am
I can’t believe you’re comparing being a gay athlete to having cancer or having your parents killed in a car accident. How is being gay as horrible as either of those things?
Shame on you!
4 Jim Buzinski // Aug 24, 2008 at 11:55 am
FYI: The New York Times, Washington Post and many other mainstream media sites ran the AP story by Beth Harris in which she wrote this:
Mitcham had the green-and-gold Australian flag draped around his shoulders afterward. He was asked about being a rare openly gay athlete.
“Being gay and diving are completely separate parts of my life. Of course there’s going to be crossover because some people have issues,” he said. “But everyone I dive with has been so supportive. I’m happy with myself and where I am. I’m very happy with who I am and what I’ve done.”
5 RBearSAT // Aug 24, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Yea I saw that Jim. Great coverage by Beth Harris in the aspects of the story. I think we’ll always chastise NBC on their coverage of the Olympics but I feel they had a limited cycle to cover the diving last night. Trying to get all angles would have been tough after full coverage of the marathon and events in the Bird’s Nest to come. I also applaud Mitcham for good poise in the interview with Beth. There will be many more to come and he appears to be a good spokesperson.
6 Paul // Aug 24, 2008 at 1:29 pm
As a gay man I think it’s ridiculous that tis is an issue after we’ve spend so much time trying to make it so that who we sleep with is inconsequential to who we are and what we do outside of the bedroom. We damn them if they mention it. Then we damn them if they don’t.
7 Scott T. // Aug 24, 2008 at 1:48 pm
All it would have taken is about 30 seconds to cover this angle.
Matt is here with his parter Lachlan. He’s been very supportive of Matt through these games as well as his mother and the rest of the family etc. See how easy that was. It’s the same thing they do with all of the straight athletes.
NBC didn’t fail the mention that David Boudia and Thomas Finchum roomed together throughout this Olympics and they went on and on about how close the two are. Were they implying something? Probably not, most syncro partners room together but why even bring it up? Because it’s interesting information and they think people want to know.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. What Matt managed to pull off is the most significant sports achievement ever by an out of the closet male athlete and it deserves to be mentioned.
8 Craig // Aug 24, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Many of you are missing the point. One can go back and forth about whether his being out is an issue. The point isn’t his sexuality. It’s that they choose to ignore the people in the stands supporting this incredible Olympic moment. One of whom happens to have been his boyfriend. That’s how deep the issues about sexuality are in our culture. Pointing out that other outlets did in fact talk about it doesn’t change the fact that the main outlet that holds the rights to the games did not. i don’t expect them to cover the gay part each time there is a gay competitor. I do, however, expect them to not avoid showing or discussing his partner. If you look at that Yahoo article, and we all know this for a fact, they don’t shy away from discussing the personal lives of athletes. Why should this be acceptable here and now? Especially where that athlete is comfortable with this as a part of his life? It’s just more of the American media treating gay as taboo. I don’t know why anyone here accepts that, but apparently you do.
9 TJ // Aug 24, 2008 at 2:12 pm
How many non-American families has NBC highlighted on their prime-time broadcasts? I can’t think of one. Maybe they have, but the number certainly is small. I’m not sure how they are treating “gay as taboo” when they include the following on his profile on their website.
Coming outMitcham made headlines in Australia when he revealed to the Sydney Morning Herald that he is gay, becoming one of the first Australian athletes to do so. Mitcham said he hopes he can find a way to bring his partner, Lachlan, to support him Beijing — though he can’t afford it on his own.
10 Debbie // Aug 24, 2008 at 2:30 pm
NBC shows chose to no air the medal ceremony, which annoyed me immensely. However they do have the video on their web site, and they did briefly show Lachian (Matthew’s partner). Here’s the link:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/share.html?videoid=0823_SD_DVM_ME_L1291R7
11 Craig // Aug 24, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Since you asked TJ- they have shown several. I don’t know what games you’ve been watching, but the personal stories are littered across the Olympics. They always do the personal side of the story of an athlete’s rise, even non-Americans. If you insist on pretending that they don’t, I am sure I can go pull up some stories and videos, but my advice would be to stop with the internalized stuff in which you think that any mention of gay is per se about politics rather than simply wanting to be treated like everyone else. That’s all people are asking here. Don’t whitewash the stories about our relationships especially where we are open about it,a nd the relationship was integral to our success. if you read the Aussie articles, it’s clear that Lachlan was extremely important to Mitcham’s rise. Mitcham was battling depression when they met. He was there every step of the way for Mitcham through the depression and decision to compete. This is just the way things happened for him. It’s not about being gay specifically, but it like the story of say Dara Torres who came back to swiming an impressive uniquely Olympic story. His partner is therefore a part of that story especialy since Mitcham pulled off what of the great Olypic upsets and come backs.
12 RBearSAT // Aug 24, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Good points back and forth but at the end NBC didn’t deviate from protocol on covering the games. They focus on US athletes (yep, lots of discussion on that point) and their families. Mitcham wasn’t even supposed to be in the running and he even points out how he had to change his approach and routine from his dismal performance in the 3m (anyone here remember that?). He won by a perfect storm of the last dive. He nailed an incredible last dive with a high degree of difficulty. Zhou botched his dive with a moderate degree of difficulty. Many ways to analyze it but it was true Olympic fortitude to make it. NBC covered it like that and that’s all there is. This wasn’t a political statement by NBC. They were dealing with the situation they had with also trying to fit two incredible races by the men’s and women’s relay teams into primetime. I guess we seem to forget they are running a sports network there.
13 Jim Buzinski // Aug 24, 2008 at 2:50 pm
“They focus on US athletes (yep, lots of discussion on that point) and their families.“
Wrong — I forget what swim event it was but they went on and on about the love triangle involving an Italian female swimmer. Non-U.S.
Watched the men’s race walk and they showed and commented on one of the NON-U.S. competitors hugging his wife after.
Watched men’s table tennis and they commented DURING THE MATCH about the NON-U.S. athlete coming back from the death of his granddad 2 years ago and the athlete’s vow to marry his girlfriend.
I assure you our readers can cite many more examples of NON-U.S. jocks having their personal stories told.
All NBC had to do with Mitcham was say something within the commentary about how it has been a year of triumph and change for Mitcham, who came out as a gay man in May and has his mom and his partner in the stands. Would’ve taken 15 seconds and been natural. The BBC mentioned Mitcham being gay in their coverage.
NBC BLEW IT and it was journalistically irresponsible to ignore the obvious story line.
14 RBearSAT // Aug 24, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Maybe a few stories on non-Americans but definitely not “littered.” No one’s whitewashing anything. We’re just watching a sporting event with some human interest scattered around (see prior comment). You quote Australian news outlets which would make a ton of sense since he is an Aussie. You seem to want to chastise NBC because they didn’t cut to Lachlan (I’m sure both are just loving this debate right now and having fun or maybe not). They did cut to his teammates who were having the time of their life, so much in fact that the Chinese volunteers had to ask them to settle down for the last dive.
15 RBearSAT // Aug 24, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Journalistically irresponsible? Isn’t that a little harsh Jim? Yea, maybe 15 seconds wouldn’t have been too much but I don’t think I ever saw Zhou’s parents shown and he was in the lead until the last dive. In fact Mitcham was 32.5 points out of the lead with no chance of winning. They had a lot to cover at the end and did a good job covering his celebration by his teammates and coaches. Which do I show? Mitcham celebrating which will be brief or his partner and miss the primary’s celebration? Okay, I’m out of this debate since it seems to be between those of who watch the Olympics for sports and those who want to make everything a political statement. You’ll have plenty of time for that over the next two weeks. BTW, Closing Ceremonies are going to be great.
16 Jim Buzinski // Aug 24, 2008 at 3:14 pm
I don’t think it’s harsh. We have the only openly gay male Olympian and he wins a gold medal, shocking the diving world by beating the unbeatable Chinese. And they ignore the gay angle that would have taken them 15 seconds to naturally tie in. They can mention his “personal problems” but not his openness about being gay?
Maybe journalistic malpractice is more appropriate.
17 TJ // Aug 24, 2008 at 3:18 pm
I don’t remember seeing men’s racewalking or table tennis on NBC PRIMETIME.All three people in the love triangle were actually athletes.
And Dara Torres is American.
I hope you can prove me wrong, but please give me some examples of Non-American families being highlighted on NBC PRIMETIME. It would lend a lot more strength to the argument that they should have shown Mitcham’s partner.
18 Craig // Aug 24, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Now, we are playing move the ball once again.
First, there were absolutes about why should his sexuality matter? When it was pointed out that it’s not his sexuality- it’s his life and those who supported him in achieving this amazing upset. Then, we were subjected to- but they don’t show non-American lives.
Having lost the second argument, we are now subjected to– they didn’t show everyone, why create a fuss, and blah, blah, blah. I could argue against what you are writing,b ut really you just making it up as you go.
Here’s the thing- this was an amazing feet by Mitcham regardless of his sexuality. The Chinese were the odds on favored to win 10 golds, and virtually dominate the diving events. In fact, they won 9. Nothing to spit on. But for one guy to effectively deny them that is a huge story. One that was so huge it compelled NBC to air it. One that stunned China, the host country. One that also got a huge amount of press.
So when you say what you are saying- trying to undercut the point that this was about the broadcaster’s problem with sexuality.
I am glad you are out of the conversation. I tire of people who cn only think in simple terms of either he’s an athlete and therefore we can’t discuss how he got there like everyone else, or he’s gay because that was the point of discussing how he got there.
The true test is whether he’s treated like everyone else- having his story told like everyone else. Not this fake- it’s just sports. If it were just sports. We would have heard the story. It’s just that simple.
19 TJ // Aug 24, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I’m glad you unilaterally decided I’m out of the conversation. A very mature way to stimulate debate. So this will be my last post.
My point is that NBC not mentioning his being gay was more likely due to their incessant focus on American athletes as well as their lack of being prepared for a non-Chinese diver winning. I think it is less likely that they didn’t mention it because they were trying to consciously hide his sexuality.
20 Craig // Aug 24, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Your point is factually wrong about the personal stories. The comment about being out of the conversation was directed to a different poster than yourself. I didn’t specify because really this is something I am writing while doing my real work.
21 Craig // Aug 24, 2008 at 4:06 pm
By the way, another factual point, NBC broadcasted these events on delay rather than live- therefore, no sure what the unprepared comment is about.
22 TJ // Aug 24, 2008 at 4:14 pm
TJ do you work for NBC? I thought they already had a PR department.
NBC blew it. That’s just the way it is. The greatest sports achievement ever by an out male athlete and they blew the coverage.
23 Scott T. // Aug 24, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Sorry. That last post was by me and not TJ
24 Jim Buzinski // Aug 24, 2008 at 5:14 pm
TJ wrote: “I hope you can prove me wrong, but please give me some examples of Non-American families being highlighted on NBC PRIMETIME.”
Men’s swimming Week 1: At least 2 mentions at different times in the week’s PRIME TIME coverage on NBC that Dutch swimmer Peter van den Hoogenband was not as focused because he got married and started a family. Took all of 10 seconds, same they could have allotted to Mitcham. Last I looked, the Netherlands were not part of the U.S.
Men’s marathon, broadcast in Prime Time. Numerous mentions of runner’s personal lives, no more than 10 seconds each; same thing they could have given to Mitcham.
Ready to concede yet? Or are you going to narrow your argument even further: “Name me one prime time Saturday night personal factoid of an athlete who lived in the Southern Hemisphere and was born prior to 1988. …”
25 Cyd // Aug 24, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Canmark, I was wrong. It is a bigger moment for gay athletes than I anticipated, in large part because of how it happened: Come from behind, 112 dive for his last. I had said “I’m not so sure,” but now I’m sure: It is a big moment for gay athletes.
Regardless of whether it’s important for gay athletes or not, as a journalist, they should have mentioned that he’s the ONLY openly gay male athlete. Whether it’s a big moment for other gay athletes or not is irrelevant.
And both of Louganis and Mitcham are athletes first in the context of the Olympics. The Advocate’s cover headline was still stupid.
26 jason // Aug 24, 2008 at 7:13 pm
NBC is homophobic. Note how NBC covers the heterosexual partners of athletes but not the gay ones. Thumbs down to NBC.
27 Craig // Aug 24, 2008 at 7:14 pm
I don’t think the argument is that they should have included his personal relationship to treat him as special because he is gay. I think the real argument is that its Orwellian to argue treating him like everyone else means ignoring his personal relationships while not doing the same for straights. The minute you leave his personal information out while including others (regardless of you feel about including personal info) is the minute you are indicating you are trying to hide his sexual orientation. He didn’t win because he is gay. He did however win in a uniquely American underdog fashion because he had the support of a loving man in his life. If you can honestly say that’s not newsworthy, then you don’t watch American news.
28 kevin // Aug 24, 2008 at 9:28 pm
If Mitcham had had a wife in the stands, wouldn’t they have shown her several times?
29 major707 // Aug 25, 2008 at 1:27 am
FYI TJ, there was a good 20-30 sec. NBC editorial about the Russian diver and his trainer MOM…..How she shouted out commands to him during his dives at the world events. For what Mitcham accomplished it would have been very relative to his story and could have made a huge impact on struggling gay athletes. NBC sports is run by old white straights guys that don’t think gays can compete. Its BS!
30 golfer // Aug 25, 2008 at 11:19 am
I think it’s pretty shameful that they didn’t even mention it. Olympics coverage is saturated with human interest stories–that’s how they introduce the viewer to someone he sees only once every four years. Nothing is too small or insignificant for mention.
If Mitcham had snuggled up to his girlfriend in that interview, we would have been introduced to her, even if just in passing. The double standard is obvious.
31 rage // Aug 25, 2008 at 11:30 am
Please! No one gives a rip about these athletes’ families, trials and tribulations to get to these sporting events, or much else about them unrelated to medaling in an athletic event. The only reason we’re devoting any attention to these lumoxes in the first place is that they can run, jump, or otherwise entertain us with an athletic prowess that wanes with age. Ten days from the 24th day of August, gay or straight, no one is going to give a flying rip about this Aussie or his lover.So, screw these athletes and their sponsors, patrons, lovers, spouses, families, trainers, and friends! Bring on the event. No one could care less. Besides, who watches NBC regularly anyway? VERY FEW!!! And, that few is not representative of the open-minded, progressive demographic of American viewers. They aren’t even log cabin rethugnicans.
32 badlydrawnbear // Aug 25, 2008 at 4:24 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.
33 LeeW // Aug 28, 2008 at 8:35 am
I created a thread in the Olympics forum at NBC’s website about the Matt Mitcham issue. The URL is http://boards.nbc.com/nbc/index.php?showtopic=801520 . If you care then please voice your opinion about it there. It’s an opportunity to possibly get the network to take the issue seriously instead of just giving lip service.
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