Tag: Olympics 2012
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Two Openly Gay Paralympians
‘Sport doesn’t care who you are – Everyone can take part,’ is the message being offered by Samsung in their Paralympics video (linked below) which we completely agree with.
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Olympic Stars Enter Charts After Closing Ceremony
After a rousing night of music at the Closing Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics many of the stars are enjoying placement in the UK’s iTunes chart.
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LGBT Stars And Allies Help Close The Olympics
In a show to end all shows the London 2012 Olympics came to a triumphant conclusion yesterday at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, London.
The televised event was seen by an estimated 1 billion people across the globe and a crowd of over 80,000 in the stadium.
In an extraordinary show of British talent the Closing Ceremony hosted some of the finest talents of the UK music and fashion scenes both past and present as the cast of thousands was joined by George Michael, The Spice Girls, Annie Lennox, Jessie J, Pet Shop Boys, and controversially Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, causing an immediate Twitter backlash.
The Daily Mail reported that Piers Morgan wrote on twitter: ‘I suspect Kate Moss might fail her drugs test later’, in reference to her alleged drug abuse and Jojo Mayes wrote: ‘Naomi Campbell: gold medal in phone throwing’, while Charles Arthur wrote: ‘Kate Moss! Who represents the Olympic ideals of not doing drugs, or smoking, and achieving lots. Work with me here.’
Campbell and Moss weren’t the only stars to feel the wrath of the Twitter audience as thousands of users used the service to Tweet their frustrations of Emeli Sandé’s double appearance in the show.
The show had moments of sheer joy, eccentricity and contemplativeness, in what turned out to be a show to rival that of the Opening Ceremony in July at the beginning of the Olympic games.
George Michael wowed the audience with a two song set of arguably one of his greatest hits ‘Freedom’, and his forthcoming single ‘White Light.‘ He looked trim and healthy wearing an all black ensemble complete with trademark sunglasses and leather jacket.
Annie Lennox a long time campaigner for LGBT rights sang in great voice for her moment in the spotlight. The singer sang her hit ‘Little Bird’ whilst surrounded by pirates and was brought on to the stage in a giant skeletal ship.
However it was the reformation of The Spice Girls that really lifted proceedings, producing an incredible buzz on social networks across the globe. As five brightly lit London taxis parked centre stage, the crowd roared almost uncontrollably as Ginger, Scary, Sporty, Baby and Posh alighted to sing two of their biggest hits: ‘Wannabe’ and ‘Spice Up Your Life’. Their appearance at the show set a new record of 116,000 Tweets per minute on Twitter. Even London Mayor Boris Johnston couldn’t resist a boogie to the sounds of 90’s ‘Girl Power’.
Jessie J was featured heavily in the proceedings having sung her own hit ‘Price Tag’ and then joining Brian May on the main-stage to sing the iconic ‘We Will Rock You’. A poignant moment in the show however was when the 80,000 strong crowd echoed Freddie Mercury in a video installment in the middle of the stage.
The Pet Shop Boys also enjoyed their moment in the spotlight, appearing in orange chariots, singing ‘West End Girls’.
The closing ceremonies brought an end to a record breaking games for Team GB having secured 29 Gold medals, 17 Silver and 19 Bronze to make a total of 65. Team GB came 3rd in the Olympic leader-board, with China in second place and the USA in poll position.
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If Matthew Mitcham Wins He’ll Dive Naked
New, fresh hope has emerged for reigning Olympic champion Matthew Mitcham to achieve gold at this evening’s diving event, the Men’s 10 Metre Diving. (more…)
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Matthew Mitcham Loves Veggie Might
Australian diver and Beijing Gold medalist Matthew Mitcham tweeted this rather gorgeous picture of himself yesterday on the micro-social networking site Twitter, saying; “I’m Australian. Don’t judge me.”
Matthew Mitcham who is one of the only openly gay men in this year’s London Olympics is due to take to the diving board tomorrow (10th August 2012 19.00hrs) when he goes head to head with the UK’s Tom Daley in the 10 metre diving finals
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Tom Daley Sent Anti-Gay Tweet
An anti-gay Tweet featured on Daniel Thomas’ Twitter stream yesterday after Tom Daley and Peter Waterfield narrowly missed out on a medal at the London Olympics.
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Same Sex Olympic Kiss Seen Across The World
A brief glimpse of the female on female kiss shown on now defunct British soap Brookside was seen by over a billion people in the Olympic Opening Ceremony on Friday night.
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COMMENT: Is It Time For Gay Games?
As we reported earlier in the week OutSports.com had announced that there were only 20 (now 21) openly gay or lesbian athletes in this year’s Olympics in London, United Kingdom.
This is up from only 11 in the Beijing games, but this number still feels incredibly low if you take the ‘reasonable estimate’ from Stonewall that between 5 to 7% of the population is homosexual.
Outsports.com who originally broke the story of the openly gay Olympians said:
“There are stages of being out. There are many more LGBT athletes out to some people — family, friends, some teammates — than feel comfortable publicly declaring their sexual orientation. Athletes are focused solely on their sport and training and coming out publicly is seen as distracting from that. Straight athletes are “out” all the time, easily discussing wives or girlfriends but for a gay athlete, that’s more than just a simple statement.”
However there are some athletes who have embraced the media and their sexuality such as Matthew Mitcham, 24, the Australian diver, who has publicly used Twitter and the media to talk about his sexuality. He is the youngest out gay athlete in the games. When asked whether he saw himself as a ‘gay icon’ by the Australian TV show Sunrise he replied:
“I’ve never really thought of myself as an icon, maybe as a role model, I’ve always wanted to embrace that and be the best role model I can be for young sports people, gay people, just anybody who can draw inspiration from my story…”
Mitcham’s story is inspirational, and his country and countless fans across the globe have taken him into their hearts, regardless of his sexuality. His pranks have been picked up by the UK’s tabloids and his Twitter followers rise in the thousands everyday. Yet, the focus is on his antics rather than his sexuality, so maybe it is time for more athletes to come out, as the fall-out seems to be negligible.
Jim Buzinski from Outsports.com said:
“It helps, (having a strong role model like Mitcham) but people come out on their own terms and based on their own unique circumstances. Mitcham can actually have more of an impact on the wider gay world.”
The question remains however, that while homosexuality across the globe is becoming far more acceptable and as brands and big name companies start to champion gay rights what pressures are gay sportspeople facing? Is it financial?
“I find it hard to believe a company would ditch an out athlete, since that would be an enormous PR blunder. Companies like Nike are very pro-gay and would embrace such a person. But the prejudice and fear remain.” Says Jim Buzinski
The Independent recently reported that the UK is the ‘Best place in Europe’ to be gay, due to its laws and progressive policies supporting and protecting gay rights. So is it time with the world focussed on London and the United Kingdom, for the next month, for closeted sportspeople to feel empowered and to come out?
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Matthew Mitcham Tweets Incredible Olympic Pic
Matthew Mitcham the Australian Olympic diving hopeful tweeted this amazing picture yesterday.
He said: Umm, best Olympic photo ever? Me thinks #yes. #London2012
And we’d have to agree, it is an absolute stunner of a picture, which was taken at the athlete’s village and got his friend to take the candid pic.
‘It is not as high as it looks,’
said the 2008 10m platform gold medallist, who claimed it was ‘all’ his idea after posting the picture on Twitter.
‘It certainly was not 10 metres high. They are quite wide and quite safe so I had no fear about climbing that at all.’
Mitcham, 24, will renew his rivalry with Tom Daley in London.
Mitcham who is one of 20 openly gay athletes contending in this year’s Olympic games came out in May 2008. He has embraced a spokesman’s role for gay rights and as an active user of the social media site Twitter used it to say:
“Yes, I’m that gay, 2008-Olympic-gold-medal-winning diver dude.”
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MATTHEW MITCHHAM Tweets Incredible Olympic Pic
Matthew Mitcham the Australian Olympic diving hopeful tweeted this amazing picture yesterday.
He said: Umm, best Olympic photo ever? Me thinks #yes. #London2012
And we’d have to agree, it is an absolute stunner of a picture, which was taken at the athlete’s village and got his friend to take the candid pic.
‘It is not as high as it looks,’ said the 2008 10m platform gold medallist, who claimed it was ‘all’ his idea after posting the picture on Twitter.
‘It certainly was not 10 metres high. They are quite wide and quite safe so I had no fear about climbing that at all.’
Mitcham, 24, will renew his rivalry with Tom Daley in London.
Mitcham who is one of 20 openly gay athletes contending in this year’s Olympic games came out in May 2008. He has embraced a spokesman’s role for gay rights and as an active user of the social media site Twitter used it to say: “Yes, I’m that gay, 2008-Olympic-gold-medal-winning diver dude.”