Gay Diver, Matthew Mitcham, Wins Gold At Beijing Olympics

Openly gay diver Matthew Mitcham pulled off the biggest upset of the Beijing Olympics, winning the gold medal in the Men's 10m Platform Final diving event. Consecutive near perfect dives launched the Australian ahead of China's Zhou Luxin, who was the favorite to win the competition. Matthew Mitcham, the only openly gay competitor at the Beijing Olympics, was in 9th place after the first round of the final competition, needing 107.30 points to overtake first.

Zhou Luxin led the competition until the last round, when he missed his final dive with low 6's and 7's. Matthew Mitcham came from behind to prevent the Chinese from sweeping all of the Olympic diving events. Matthew's last dive, a back 2 1/2 somersault with 2 1/2 twists, carrying a 3.8 degree of difficulty, earned him four 10s and 112.10 points for the gold. He was overtaken by emotion and disbelief. An assistant on the floor whispered to him after his final dive, "Matthew, you won the gold!"

Mitcham came out prior the Olympics in a May 25th interview with the Sydney Morning Herald. He becomes the second openly gay Olympic diver to win a gold medal behind Greg Louganis, who came out after the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.

Profile:
Who Is Matthew Mitcham?

LGBT Olympians:
Lesbian and Bisexual Beijing Olympians

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