October 2008 Cover
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Ozzie diver scores best-ever Olympic dive
Needing a spectacular, near-perfect finale to
overtake Chinese diver Zhou Luxin, Australia's
openly gay Matthew Mitcham aced his last dive, a
back two-and-a-half somersault with two-and-a-
half twists to earn that highest dive score in
Olympic history -- and Australia's first diving gold
medal since 1924.
"It's going to take a while to sink in," Mitcham said
after the dive. "My cheeks hurt from smiling. My
face hurts from the chlorine. My legs are sore from
jumping up and down. I'm in pain and I'm tired. But
I'm so happy," the champion told the Sydney
Morning Herald.
Mitcham added that his struggle to overcome
teenage depression related to coming to terms with
his homosexuality only made him a stronger
athlete. "I wouldn't have won if I hadn't been
through all that," Mitcham noted
The Washington Blade counts six other
openly gay medalists from the Beijing games: Gold
-- Gro Hammerseng and Katja Nyberg, Norway,
handball (part of gold medal-winning team);
Natasha Kai, U.S., Soccer (part of gold medal-
winning team); Silver -- Vicky Galindo and Lauren
Lappin, U.S., softball (part of silver medal-winning
team); and Bronze -- Linda Bresonik, Germany,
soccer (part of bronze medal-winning team). Other
than Mitcham, they are all women.
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