![olympic gay pride logo olympic gay pride logo](https://www.advocate.com/sites/default/files/imce/uploadedimages/advocateolympics.jpg)
With Canada beating Sweden in the gold medal match, Quinn became the first transgender and nonbinary athlete to medal at the Olympics. The 26-year-old made more history by the time the women’s soccer tournament was over as well. Two transgender athletes made history at the 2020 Tokyo Games.Ĭanadian midfielder Quinn became the first transgender athlete to compete at the Olympics. Bowe wound up earning bronze in the women’s team pursuit. Rippon earned bronze in the 2018 team figure skating competition to make him the United States’ first openly gay medalist at the Winter Games.
![olympic gay pride logo olympic gay pride logo](https://assets.vogue.com/photos/5891b3f3b482c0ea0e4da0c0/master/pass/img-platformsochieffectholding_101424840301.jpg)
Kenworthy won silver at the 2014 Games, but didn’t come out until the following year. It wasn’t until the 2018 Games when Team USA featured its first openly gay Winter Olympians, as figure skater Adam Rippon, freeskier Gus Kenworthy and speed skater Brittany Bowe competed in PyeongChang. Turasi has played 38 Olympic games for Team USA, more than any other American basketball player.Īdam Rippon, Gus Kenworthy and Brittany Bowe women’s basketball team has posted a perfect 38-0 record at the Olympics since the two guards debuted at the 2004 Athens Games. Bird and fellow Team USA basketball star Diana Turasi, both of whom are lesbian, became the first five-time gold medalists in Olympic basketball history at the 2020 Games. Speaking of Rapinoe, her fiance, Sue Bird, is an iconic LGBTQ Olympian as well. She’s the only soccer player in Olympic history to score an Olimpico (a corner kick that goes untouched into the net) and she’s done it twice: once in the 2012 semifinal against Canada and another time in the 2020 bronze medal match versus Australia. In addition to her two World Cup titles, Rapinoe, who is lesbian, also has two Olympic medals, winning gold in 2012 and bronze in 2020. women’s national team, scoring 62 goals and assisting on another 71. Soccer star Megan Rapinoe made 127 appearances for the U.S. Prior to their marriage, Helen and Kate also won bronze together at the 2012 London Games. They then also became the first same-sex married couple to medal when Great Britain beat the Netherlands for the country’s first Olympic gold in the sport. Kate and Helen Richardson-Ross of Great Britain’s field hockey team were the first same-sex married couple to compete at the same Olympics in 2016. Mitcham finished first in the 10m platform event at the 2008 Beijing Games. Simmerling first competed in women’s skicross at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi before earning a bronze medal in the women’s cycling team pursuit at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.Īustralian diver Matthew Mitcham was the first openly gay athlete to win gold at the Olympics. Witty, a one one-time Olympic champion and three-time medalist in speed skating, also took part in cycling at the 2000 Sydney Games.Ĭanadian Georgia Simmerling joined Witty by becoming the second LGBTQ athlete to participate in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. More iconic LGBTQ Olympians throughout historyĪmerican Christine Witty was the first LGBTQ athlete to compete in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Peltzer ran at the 1928 Amsterdam and 1932 Los Angeles Olympics before he was arrested and imprisoned by the Nazis for his homosexuality in 1935. German runner Otto Peltzer is the first known LGBTQ Olympian. Dover was a six-time Olympian and four-time medalist, claiming one bronze in each Olympics from 1992-2004.īut the history of LGBTQ Olympians dates back much further than 1988. Dover, an equestrian athlete, had participated in two prior Summer Games before coming out ahead of the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Who was the first openly gay Olympian?Īmerican Robert Dover was the first openly gay athlete to compete at the Olympic Games. The 35-year-old Wüst needs just one gold medal to pass Thorpe for the most among LGBTQ athletes. Wüst, who is bisexual, won three medals at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, with a first-place finish in the 1500m and second-place finishes in the 3000m and team pursuit, to pass Australian swimmer and nine-time medalist Ian Thorpe as the most decorated LGBTQ Olympian of all time. She’s captured at least one individual gold medal at each Olympics she’s competed at, and should she do that again in Beijing, Wüst would become the first Olympian, Winter or Summer, to win an individual gold at five different Games. The most decorated Dutch Olympian, LGBTQ Olympian and Olympic speed skater of all time, Ireen Wüst has accumulated five golds, five silvers and one bronze over her four Olympic appearances.