INTERNATIONAL
BREAKING BARRIERS: LGBTQ ATHLETES INFLUENCE OLYMPICS
After a high number of LGBTQ athletes participated in the 2021 Olympics, they have received both praise and pushback. WORDS BY CARMON BAKER | ART BY AMANDA O’BRIEN
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he 2021 Summer Olympics, held in Tokyo, were not devoid of firsts. Most notably, the games were held without spectators after being delayed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, another first also made headlines; there was a drastic increase in openly LGBTQ athletes competing. According to a story by SBNation, at least 186 openly LGBTQ athletes competed at the games last summer. That’s more than three times the number of queer athletes 20 | FALL 2021
who competed at the Rio Olympics in 2016 and also greater than the number of LGBTQ athletes who have played in all combined past Olympic games. The Tokyo Games saw the return of prominent past Olympians who had already been out while competing at previous Olympics. For example, United States soccer player Megan Rapinoe and her fiance, United States basketball player Sue Bird, both competed. Additionally, British diver Tom Daley, who is gay, also competed.
Queer olympians like Rapinoe, Bird, and Daley have been influential for young athletes as they’ve taken the world stage. “I play soccer, so one of the bigger role models or people that were representing LGBTQ was Megan Rapinoe, and she’s an advocate for LGBTQ inclusivity in sports,” Lawrence University soccer player Sydney Allen, who is a member of the LGBTQ community, said. “I mainly saw her advocating for youth, but I also saw her getting hated on a lot. I saw a lot of
