Sanne van Dijke (Netherlands)# Rhythmic GymnasticsĬecilia Carranza Saroli (Argentina) Shooting
Tokyo Summer Games Out LGBTQ Athletes 3x3 BasketballĪnton Down-Jenkins (New Zealand) EquestrianĬaitlin Rooskrantz (South Africa)# Handball If you know of an out LGBTQ athlete not on the list, or have any other inquiry, please contact us via email ( or direct message us on Twitter outsports), Instagram outsports) or Facebook ( OutsportsSBN). We know we likely have missed some out athletes, especially those who are non-Americans, as Outsports is based in the United States. We also work with LGBT historian Tony Scupham-Bilton, who runs the blog The Queerstory Files, to compile the most extensive list anywhere, and each athlete has a link below to some aspect of them being publicly out. If someone has not made a public declaration to the media that they are LGBTQ, they can still be included on this list if they are openly living their life as an out person on social media, particularly if they have made clear they are in a same-sex relationship. To be included on the Outsports list of out LGBTQ Olympians, an athlete has to have come out publicly in the media, or they have to be clearly out on their public-facing social media. This continues a trend seen at past Olympics and is reflective of out athletes in elite non-Olympic sports where women also proliferate. Women on the list outnumber men by about a 9-to-1 margin, with women’s soccer having more than 40 out players. These numbers include reserve athletes who have been practicing with the team and are traveling to Tokyo with the team.
We will update the numbers as we learn more about the current Olympic athletes. Team USA was followed in the number of publicly out LGBTQ athletes by Brazil (18), Canada (18), Netherlands (17), Britain (16), Australia (14) and New Zealand (10). The United States had the most out athletes at these Olympics, with 36 out athletes we know of, about a fifth of all the attendees on the list. This year at least 30 different countries were represented by at least one publicly out athlete in at least 34 sports, including the first trans Olympians. “I hope the increased visibility can give young people a sentiment of belonging and encourage communities to be inclusive and welcoming.” “Growing up in a small French town in Quebec, I didn’t know or even know of a single LGBTQ person or athlete until I was older,” Alarie said. We originally did not have Alarie on our list, but she contacted us and told us she was LGBTQ (she also gave us the names of three out teammates whom we also added). His comments were echoed by Elissa Alarie, a Canadian rugby player. I’m hoping that by competing at these Games I can show the LGBTQ community that we do belong and we can achieve anything we put our minds to.” “Being able to compete with the best in the world as my most authentic self at the biggest international multi-sport games shows how far we’ve come on inclusion in sport. Thormeyer was not out when he competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics and came out publicly as gay in a 2020 essay for Outsports. “Competing at the Olympics as an openly gay athlete is pretty amazing,” Canadian swimmer Markus Thormeyer told Outsports. In contrast, Outsports counted 23 publicly out Olympians in 2012 and 56 in 2016 at those Summer Games. The rise of social media, especially Instagram, has given athletes a forum where they can live their lives openly and identify directly with their followers. The massive increase in the number of out athletes reflects the growing acceptance of LGBTQ people in sports and society. The number of publicly out LGBTQ athletes in Tokyo is also greater than the number athletes who have participated in all of the previous Olympic Games - Summer and Winter - combined while publicly out. That number of athletes who were out at the Tokyo Olympics has continued to grow.Īt least 186 publicly out gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and nonbinary athletes were in Tokyo for the Summer Olympic Games, more than triple the number who participated at the 2016 Rio Games.
Editor’s Note: As of mid-August 2021, the total number of known LGBTQ athletes was 185.