



It’s certainly not due to the fact that London 2012 has the highest number of openly gay or lesbian competitors in any Olympic games.

It’s a pretty warm day today, for London at least. For the last two weeks, there has only been one event to watch. With the closing ceremony on tonight, the Olympics has almost taken over the airwaves in the UK. Never before in Britain has an event sparked such national pride. It could be the fact that we’ve won more medals than we have since we hosted the Olympics in 1908, or maybe the fact that the biggest celebration of human sporting achievement is hosted in the capital for the third time. It’s possibly just due to the fact that certain people have questioned whether Britain is ready for the Olympics.It’s certainly not due to the fact that London 2012 has the highest number of openly gay or lesbian competitors in any Olympic games.



I know what you’re thinking. “She doesn’t think having a large number of out sportspeople is good? Is she a bigot? Why is she saying these things?” Well, the answer is quite simple. With an athlete count of around 10,500 in the Olympics, a survey showed that just 21 athletes were openly out as gay or lesbian. Only three of these athletes are men. There are also only two Paralympic athletes that are out.

Megan Rapinoe of the US soccer team (S)

When it comes to acceptance of non-heterosexual orientations, sport seems to be lagging far behind areas such as politics, business or the arts worlds. 21 isn’t even 1% of the whole population of the Olympic athletes. There are also only two openly homosexual coaches, both female – in the US and UK’s women’s football (or soccer, for those who were confused). It’s unlikely that gay athletes are being looked over in favour of their straight peers; someone would have complained to the media before now. It’s also extremely unlikely that highly successful athletes and Olympians are just more likely to be straight. Aside from some extreme homophobes and some people who love to stereotype, most people are fairly up to date with the fact that your sexual orientation has little to no bearing on your physique.



So why is there such a small amount of gay athletes? Well, it could be because athletes in the closet are worried about losing their sponsorship if they come out. Although most people imagine that few sponsors are willing to risk the commercial backlash of dropping an athlete because they are gay, there are even fewer athletes that are willing to test that assumption. That said, Adidas spokeswoman Katja Schreiber said the company would stand by any athlete who chooses to come out of the closet.



There are plenty of other reasons to hide their orientation that aren’t generally experienced by gays that aren’t in competitive sports. Bad reactions from teammates are always a risk when in team sports – bad reactions from fans are even worse. Many athletes say when they come out that they didn’t want to distract themselves from their sport. In an industry where the slightest amount of lost sleep or eating differently can change the outcome of a challenge like the Olympics, and already being under close media scrutiny because of their involvement with the event, it’s small wonder that athletes aren’t exactly coming out of the closet in a huge (and incredibly fit) wave.

Carl Hester, of the Team GB equestrian team (S)

A lot of athletes also come from less accepting countries - an Olympian coming out in Britain would ruffle a few feathers, but a Russian or Chinese athlete? They would risk persecution in their country because of their orientation. Unfortunately some people aren't able to focus on the important parts of being an athlete. It's not about "are you gay" or "do you get up really early in the morning" or "do you prefer coffee to tea"; it's about "are you able to do well at your sport?".



Add in the fact that the cultural differences between the Summer Olympics in London in 2012, and the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014. There’s nothing wrong with Sochi superficially, but Sochi happens to be in South-West Russia. Russia has not been too friendly to QUILTBAGs recently, what with Saint Petersburg banning “homosexual propaganda” (and also banning the ability to mention things like “gay”, “lesbian”, or “trans*” in public), and Moscow banning gay pride parades for the next hundred years. A hundred years is quite a long time. It means that none of us will be alive to see another Pride parade in Moscow, unless something drastic happens.



Russia has already stated that, unlike London, Sochi will not tote a LGBT Pride House. This comes after a series of laws in the country where, like in St Petersburg, officials are targeting and silencing LGBT people and allies. All in all for LGBT Winter Olympians Russia’s reception will seem… Well, pretty cold.