Gymnastics are on the minds of gay men everywhere as we head into the Paris Olympics.
Doing an informal poll at a couple of dinner and pool parties over the last few weeks, that’s what I’ve learned in talking to gay friends.
Unfortunately, men’s gymnastics competitions haven’t gone the route that American Olympian and national champion Sam Mikulak suggested. In 2016, around the time of the Rio Olympics, Mikulak said that, given the physiques of the male gymnasts, they should simply compete shirtless.
“People make fun of us for wearing tights,” he said at the time. “But if they saw how yoked we are maybe that would make a difference.”
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A few years after Mikulak’s comment, the USA men’s gymnastics team said they wanted to go shirtless to attract more interest. That it would.
To do what these guys do on rings and bars, they have to be incredibly strong.
It always seemed funny to me that gymnastics would be considered by man a “gay” sport. Meaning the guys engaging in it are somehow weak or feminine. OK, some of them may be feminine, but you can be feminine and very strong and powerful.
That’s gymnastics.
There’s only one publicly out gay man competing in artistic gymnastics in Paris: Arthur Nory of Brazil. There is also one woman that we know of, Caitlin Rooskrantz of South Africa. Brazil’s Rayan Dutra is also out, competing in trampoline.
As you can see below, the men competing in artistic gymnastics at the 2024 Olympics in Paris are very much that. There’s a range of physiques from guys on the slimmer side, to some who are straight-up brutes. Nobody would want to get into a fight with some of these guys.
Yet these are some of the guys who will be fighting for an Olympic medal in Paris. Some specialize in the floor routine, others the rings or parallel bars.
Whoever comes out on top, these are some of the guys you’ll want to keep an eye on in Paris.
