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.

Full-size image:

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.

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.

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:

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.

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)

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.

Bob Ballard is covering diving for the BBC. He wrote for Outsports about Matthew Mitcham’s dives in the 10-meter platform prelims.

By Bob Ballard

Remember that ill-at-ease, almost petrified looking Aussie I was telling you about who competed in the 3-meter diving competition the other day, and looked out of his depth? What a difference a few days make.

20 year old Matt Mitcham appeared a completely different man on the Platform, or Tower as the Australians like to call it.

Out Australian diver Matthew Mitcham has qualified for the semifinals in men’s 10m platform diving, finishing second in the preliminary round, missing the top seed by just over 30 points. Both American divers, Thomas Fincham (7th) and David Boudia (6th), have also qualified. Whereas Mitcham barely made the semifinals of the 3m springboard and failed to make the finals, he has set himself up for a serious run at a medal with his prelim performance. NBC will surely show his dives tonight in primetime; and it will be interesting, with their commentators often talking about athletes’ girlfriends, husbands and personal lives, if they’ll mention that he’s the only openly gay male athlete in Beijing.

Australian diver Matthew Mitcham, 20, the only publicly gay male Olympian in Beijing, finished 16th out of 18 divers in the 3-meter springboard Tuesday and failed to qualify for the finals (only the top 12 divers reach the finals).

Bob Ballard of the BBC is covering the diving competition in Beijing. He wrote for Outsports about the first day of  competition for openly gay diver Matthew Mitcham:

By Bob Ballard
BBC for Outsports

I hadn’t even considered the possibility and I doubt if he had either, but Matthew Mitcham came mighty close to not making the semifinals of the 3-meter springboard in Beijing.

Out Aussie diver Matthew Mitcham has qualified for the semifinal round with his six dives in today’s 3m springboard prelims. Mitcham qualified 15th; eighteen divers qualified. Predictably, Chinese men sit first and second. Both American divers, Chris Colwill and Troy Dumais, also qualified. The semis will be held Monday night at 10pm EST and can be followed here if NBC isn’t showing them live.

Australian diver Matthew Mitcham, the only publicly gay male at the Games, dives for the first time on Monday. He has a website that allows you to send a “shout out.” Click on the front of his site and the “Shout Box” is on the left. It would be cool if Outsports readers let him know we’re behind him (figuratively, of course).