There may be fewer out LGBTQ athletes within the Team GB group at the Paris 2024 Olympics compared to Tokyo three years ago, but the visibility is no less significant.
For the second consecutive Summer Games, Britain has three publicly out gay men competing, all in different sports, including one of the flagbearers at the Opening Ceremony.
So far, no country has greater gay male representation (Brazil’s trio of out men includes a bi athlete, trampoline star Rayan Dutra).
Four of the 11 out British athletes already have Olympic medals from previous Games and there are podium chances in Paris for several others.
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Team LGBTQ at the 2024 Paris Summer Games
The list of out gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and nonbinary Olympians will continue to grow.
By Outsports | June 28, 2024
There are certainly more LGBTQ members of Team GB at these Olympics, but here’s a look at the athletes we can say are publicly out…
Badminton
Kirsty Gilmour
Gilmour is currently ranked just outside the world’s top 20 in singles but has been as high as 14th in the past. The 30-year-old, who won Commonwealth silver in her home city of Glasgow back in 2014, and her girlfriend Robyn often post pics of their adventures together on Instagram.
Diving
Tom Daley
Three days after carrying the Union Flag in the Opening Ceremony, Daley will go for a fifth medal in his fifth Games, alongside Noah Williams in the synchro 10m platform. Watching poolside will be husband Dustin Lance Black and their two sons — it could be ‘Papa’ Tom’s Olympic swansong, although he hasn’t ruled out L.A. 2028 yet.
Equestrian
Carl Hester
This will be Hester’s seventh Games, matching fellow rider Nick Skelton’s GB record, and he has the full trifecta of Olympic medals in Team Dressage from the last three — gold at London 2012, silver at Rio 2016, and Tokyo delivering bronze. In Paris, Hester will ride Fame, a 14-year-old stallion, who he’s described as “the coolest horse.” The 57-year-old is understood to be in a long-term relationship with boyfriend Ben.
Field Hockey
Sarah Jones
Jones had to wait until she was 28 to make her GB debut, having already played international hockey for Wales for seven years. At her first Olympics in Tokyo, her penalty in a shootout with Spain sealed a semifinal berth and from there, a bronze medal. Her girlfriend Molly wrote on Instagram: “Words will never be able to express how ridiculously proud I am or how phenomenal a human (and hockey player) Sar is!”
Fiona Crackles
The glamour of Paris is a far cry from life on the Crackles farm back in Kirkby Lonsdale, in England’s far northwest. The tough-tackling 24-year-old was also part of the bronze medal-winning Tokyo squad, and won Commonwealth Games gold with England the following year.
Miriam Pritchard
Pritchard has spent most of her GB career to date being a reserve goalkeeper, but an injury to Sabbie Heesh means she will step up to start as No 1 in her first Olympics. The 25-year-old is also an award-winning illustrator and has her trusty sketchbook with her in Paris, from where she also told Outsports she is “gay and proud.”
Golf
Georgia Hall
This is Hall’s Olympic debut and she will play alongside her best friend, Charley Hull, both representing GB in a 60-strong field for the tournament at Le Golf National. Hall previously spoke publicly about being in a relationship with fellow golfer Ryann O’Toole — they are said to have split up earlier this year.
Rugby 7s
Jasmine Joyce
After being part of the squads that finished fourth at the last two Games in Rio and Tokyo, speed queen Joyce will be pushing hard to get on the podium in Paris. The 28-year-old married her Welsh 15-a-side international teammate Alisha Butchers in a beautiful Christmas wedding in Pembrokeshire last year.
Meg Jones
In Tokyo, Jones was alongside her girlfriend Celia Quansah in the GB squad but the latter’s long-term injury problems and fierce competition for places means that isn’t the case for Paris. Jones has been out as gay since her teens and told Metro UK earlier this year that it was important for her and Quansah to be “vocal” about their relationship: “No-one should feel guilty for who they are, how they feel or who they love.”
Kayleigh Powell
Powell is one of two reserve players who have traveled to Paris with the 7s squad. Last summer, the 25-year-old Welsh fullback celebrated buying a house with her girlfriend and Bristol Bears teammate, Lucy Burgess.
Swimming
Dan Jervis
Jervis finished fifth in the 1500m freestyle final in Tokyo, but is going into Paris shortly after “the best moment” of his career to date when he won at the GB Olympic trials in a time just shy of his personal best. He came out as gay publicly in 2022 and mentioned his partner had been watching on from poolside at the trials in April. The 28-year-old allowed himself at least one big night out last month — he went to see Taylor Swift live at Liverpool FC’s Anfield stadium.
