Has the Rio Olympics set a milestone for LGBT athletes?

There are more openly gay Olympians that ever in Rio, but how much of a significant breakthrough is it?

When The Daily Beast briefly published a controversial article outing gay athletes in the Olympics, the backlash was immense. The journalist behind the piece, Nico Hines, was heavily criticized by the IOC and removed from the Games.

The response of the sporting world has shown how far LGBT issues in Olympic sport have evolved in such a short amount of time. Within the last four years the amount of openly LGBT Olympians has more than doubled from 23 in 2012 to over 50 this year according to outsports.com. It is an encouraging sign that sexuality is no longer an issue in sports.

It isn’t just the presence of those athletes that is breaking down the barriers, it is also the media coverage. Within the past week there has been two marriage proposals. Shortly after her final match final at the Women’s rugby sevens competition, Brazilian player Isadora Cerullo was purposed to on the field by her long-term girlfriend. Then a few days later Tom Bosworth, who finished sixth in the men’s 20km walk, got engaged to his boyfriend.

The proposals themselves wasn’t groundbreaking, the significant aspect was the media portrayal of the occasions being no different to that of a heterosexual couple.

Life at the Olympic village Rio might be perfect for the LGBT community, however, the world of sport is far from being free of homophobia. Canadian international volleyball player Chris Voth recently admitted that he lost out on playing for a unnamed high-profile team because they were concerned about how the fans would react to his sexuality.

“I had a great offer lined up, I was pretty excited, and I had good references for this club,” Voth told the Winnipeg Free Press. “My agent told me the team said they didn’t want to take you because they were nervous about other teams’ fans being hostile toward you because of being gay. I was just, ‘Oh.’

Voth’s unfortunate experience is not an exception and is one of the reasons why some athletes  choose to hide their sexual orientation. One example is the Brazilian football association. In 2013 a high-profile survey of 105 players from the best football clubs in the country revealed that 56% of the players knew a gay player in football. Nevertheless, no player has come out in Brazil.

Openly gay Swimmer Amini Fonua, who represented Tonga at the Olympics this year, recently described the Olympic Village as a ’safe place’ for LGBT athletes. Judging of the success of other athletes, it appears that this is the case.

Acceptance might be tolerated at the biggest sporting event in the world, but the struggle remains outside of the media spotlight. Rio has provided a reason to celebrate, but there is still a long way to go for LGBT acceptance in some sports.

LGBT medalist at the Rio Olympics (so far)

Gold Medals
Rafaela Silva, Brazil, Judo (Women’s 57kg)

Silver Medals
Carl Hester, Great Britain, Team Dressage
Spencer Wilton, Great Britain, Team Dressage

Bronze Medals
Tom Daley, Great Britain, Diving (Men’s synchronized 10-meter platform)
Jen Kish, Canada, Rugby (Women’s sevens)