08/23/2008
Gay Australian Diver Matthew Mitcham Wins Gold in 10M
Breaking news from Beijing:
"Matthew Mitcham has won a gold medal for Australia in the men’s 10 metre platform diving in Beijing. The 20-year-old offered an incredible 112.10 final dive to beat the Chinese Luxin Zhou who had lead the competition until that point. Fellow Australian Mathew Helm came 6th in the final. Helm took silver at Athens in 2004."
Previously
Matthew Mitcham Fails to Make 3M Springboard Finals [tr]
Sportrait: Matthew Mitcham [tr]
Australia's Gay Olympian Matthew Mitcham Happy to Be Out [tr]
Australian Olympic Diver Matthew Mitcham: I'm Gay [tr]
Posted 10:28 AM EST by Andy Towle in Beijing, Matthew Mitcham, News, Olympics | Permalink
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Video here of Matthew, his mom, and his boyfriend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2PWW8uBhik
Posted by: RandyW | Aug 24, 2008 12:48:04 AM
Video here of Matthew, his mom, and his boyfriend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2PWW8uBhik
Posted by: RandyW | Aug 24, 2008 12:49:32 AM
NBC does suck. But, hopefully they will have a clip of the finals up by tomorrow on Nbcolympics.com. It's crazy that they are lagging so far behind in having these clips up. I've had to wait for days to see some of the events because I couldn't see them in the first broadcast. It's like a total throwback to the days of broadcast only. Great for their profits with the advertisers- horrible for us fans.
Posted by: Craig | Aug 24, 2008 1:05:07 AM
Yes, it's great to see a sportsman being an out gay man during his career rather than at the end of it. American men are hopeless at coming out during their careers. The few that have come out have usually done it at the end. Pathetic. American men should take a leaf out of Matthew's book.
Posted by: jason | Aug 24, 2008 1:36:17 AM
As much as I appreciate his talent, and the fact that he's adorable, I'm just psyched that he stopped the chinese sweep - Congratulations Matthew!
Posted by: bryan | Aug 24, 2008 1:59:25 AM
What a beautiful, courageous, proud gay Olympian!
He made me so very proud when he came out to the world and now he has solidified his place in gay history with Gold from brutal China.
My tears wouldn't stop - this world is becoming a better place.
Posted by: a bulgarian gay man | Aug 24, 2008 2:29:33 AM
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Posted by: mike | Aug 24, 2008 6:52:23 AM
Dear Olen:
Content on the left; ads and links on the right; occasional ad between items. It's really simple. It's a great site--a staple of my internet life.
Posted by: mike | Aug 24, 2008 6:52:43 AM
I don't see a problem with the ads - whatever it takes to keep up this wonderful web site, it's all good with me.
Posted by: yeah, Olen, seriously! | Aug 24, 2008 8:10:46 AM
Major kudoes (or is it kudos?) to the Aussie diver. I must be getting weepy in my old age as I teared up during the medal ceremony.
It's also refreshing to see that his b/f is not a clone/double of him which is all too common among young gay guys.
Then I was viewing the NBC internet site and this disembodied voice came on which I assumed was some husky closeted lesbian softball player. Turns out it was Thomas Finchum the U.S. diver. If you saw his chunky very Middle America parents in the stands I think his coming out will not be anytine soon (until he can afford his own place!).
To the earlier poster who claimed that swim teams are heavy with gays do tell the details (or have you simply been watching too much porn where that is one of the most hoary plot lines).
Posted by: Jack H. | Aug 24, 2008 10:08:48 AM
This site is terrible in Firefox, it got worse in Firefox 3 (100 % CPU usage when Towleroad is loaded, immediately gone when leaving the site). It appears to be a problem with the Flash plugin. Of course you could install addons like Flashblock and NoScript, but I think a web page shouldn't require that.
The ads could be added with Ajax or in Iframes since then they wouldn't be loaded step by step. Otherwise, if one stalls, the whole site will stall in Firefox.
And of course: Congratulations, Matthew!
Posted by: Chris | Aug 24, 2008 10:43:05 AM
The highest scoring dive in the history of the Olympics.
And can you all PLEASE stop saying he came out! Please use the language HE uses, he was never in. It never occurred to him to deny that he had a partner. He just answered the question. He wasn't IN the closet.
Posted by: Matt | Aug 24, 2008 11:58:43 AM
That was sweet, seeing him win the gold medal. Reading about the problems he's had in recent years and his almost-retirement from the sport made me think that this win was even more spectacular for him. Congratulations, Matthew!
Posted by: The Milkman | Aug 24, 2008 12:28:36 PM
I found full video of all his dives, including the final and the medal ceremony, at
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6iyuo_matthew-mitcham-medaille-dor_sport
Posted by: bcarter3 | Aug 24, 2008 12:41:13 PM
In the video I sited above,
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6iyuo_matthew-mitcham-medaille-dor_sport
the brief Lachlan kiss is at 14:05
Posted by: bcarter3 | Aug 24, 2008 12:48:56 PM
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/player.html?assetid=0823_hd_dvm_au_l1789r7&channelcode=sportdv
if this doesn't pull up for you, check out nbcolympics.com for a large assortment of vids from the games.
Posted by: t in houston | Aug 24, 2008 1:30:00 PM
bcarter3 Thanks for the clip, I caught his dive last night but did not see the rest.
What a great role model for all, let alone gay athletes struggling to come out.
Posted by: patrick nyc | Aug 24, 2008 3:00:26 PM
JACK H. - I teared up too, and I hope it isn't age cuz I'm only 27!
Congrats to Mitcham!
Posted by: gabriel | Aug 24, 2008 4:41:56 PM
The Queen
regretably cum/ sperm is not chock full of protein. It is sugars and water
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On long load times for the site.....try cleaning up your hard disk = faster computer
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NBC totaly sucks. They covered other athletes (even non USA)families, backstory, and issues while totally ignoring Mitcham's. They said "personal issues" on his retirement and never panned the audience to show his partner and family unlike they did for other athletes. China even covered Mtcham;s gayness while the good ole USA news ignored it.
Posted by: Jimmyboyo | Aug 24, 2008 6:26:30 PM
Great show!
I would think the first out Olympian (modern) was Martina Navratalova in Tennis, but Mitcham could be the first out male gold medalist. Does anyone know?
Posted by: anon | Aug 24, 2008 10:38:41 PM
America is even more homophobic than China. Certainly at the cultural level, anyway. There is a huge cultural oppression of gay and bi men in America, courtesy of liberals and Democrats. Conservatives oppress us legally, liberals do it at the level of "what's not, what's not".
Posted by: jason | Aug 25, 2008 2:14:11 AM
That's "what's hot, what's not" in my post just above.
Posted by: jason | Aug 25, 2008 2:15:16 AM
Wonderful feat and absolutely deserved gold medal, Matthew, well done. How amazing to see a gold Olympian standing with his mother and male partner, at ease and happy, after his victory. What a great role model for young gay people.
Posted by: CK | Aug 25, 2008 9:54:12 AM
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darken'd ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits...
- John Keats
Posted by: FASTLAD | Aug 25, 2008 10:57:12 AM
"America is even more homophobic than China."
That's a good one. Thank god they already have gay marriage and out party officials in China! Was that Chinese girl lip-syncher a hot bi babe?
China covered Mitcham's gayness? Do we really know that? Did they mention it or just not cut the kiss? I just keep thinking what was going through the poor Russian bronze medalist's mind. Beaten by a fag. Not good in Russia.
But the video is indeed very touching!
Posted by: Kevinvt | Aug 25, 2008 11:23:26 AM