The 11 openly GLBT athletes at the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, had impressive showings, highlighted by the shocking, breathtaking, near-flawless gold-medal-winning performance by Australian diver Matthew Mitcham in the 10-meter platform.
A stunned Matthew Mitcham reacts to winning a gold medal in diving at the Beijing Olympics. Mitcham strikes two poses as he prepares for two different dives during the Beijing Olympics. Photos from NBC TV Olympic coverage. The Australian was among several LGBT individuals who placed. Photox from NBC TV Olympic coverage.
The LGBT medal tally, including Mitcham's, was four golds, two silvers and one bronze.
The other gold medals went to Natasha Kai, United States ( soccer ) ; and Gro Hammerseng and Katya Nyberg, Norway ( handball ) . The silver medals went to Lauren Lappin and Vicky Galindo, United States ( softball ) , while German Linda Bresonik ( soccer ) won a bronze.
The Beijing Olympics ended Aug. 24.
The 2010 Winter Olympics will be held in Vancouver, marking the third Olympics hosted by Canada, and the first by the province of British Columbia. Previously, Canada was home to the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games will be held in London, England, as London becomes the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times ( 1908, 1948 ) .
Chicago, of course, is a finalist to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, along with Tokyo ( Japan ) , Rio de Janeiro ( Brazil ) and Madrid ( Spain ) . The International Olympic Committee ( IOC ) will announce the host city for the 2016 Games Oct. 2, 2009, in Copenhagen.
Mitcham's gold shocked, well, just about everyone, including himself. The Chinese were heavily favored in the event, and Mitcham was behind Zhou Luxin by about 35 points going into the final dive. But Mitcham hit an unbelievable score of 112.10 on his sixth and final dive to win by just over three points.
'It's absolutely surreal. I never thought that this would be possible,' Mitcham told reporters in Beijing. 'I wasn't even sure of my medal chances at all. After I did my last dive and I saw I was in first, I thought, 'That's it, it's a silver medal, I am so happy with this' and then I won [ the gold ] . I can't believe it, I'm so happy.'
The Mitcham story is even more amazing considering he quit diving two years ago, battling depression and burnout.
Mitcham was supported in China by his partner, Lachlan, among others.
Mitcham's win denied China a sweep of the men's and women's diving gold medals. On his final dive, Mitcham went all out, attempting a routine with a high degree of difficulty—a back 2 1/2 somersault with 2 1/2 twists. He nailed it, getting perfect 10s from four of the seven judges.
Mitcham came out in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald earlier this year.
The second most-shocking LGBT-related story from Beijing was that the U.S. softball team, featuring Lappin and Galindo, did not claim gold. The United States did not earn a fourth straight softball gold medal, falling 3-1 to Japan in softball's last appearance in the Olympics for at least eight years.
The setback to Japan was the country's first loss since Sept. 21, 2000, at the Sydney Games. The United States had won 22 straight, mostly by lopsided scores.
Soccer's Kai is one of the most famous Hawaiian athletes—and certainly was one of the Games' most recognizable athletes, thanks to her 19 tattoos, including a sleeve tattoo depicting a traditional Polynesian design on her right arm. She helped the U.S. capture gold, with a 4-2 finals win over Japan.
