CONGRATULATIONS MATTHEW MITCHAM!

According to myth, Hercules created the Olympic Games in days when men and gods mingled on the Grecian mountaintops.
Published on: 25 September 2008

According to myth, Hercules created the Olympic Games in days when men and gods mingled on the Grecian mountaintops. This seems like a fitting genesis for a sporting competition that is the pinnacle of many disciplines. Even in today’s world participants can be rocketed into the status of gods by their performance. The first recorded games took place in 776 BC with just one event - a 210-yard dash known as the stade - which a naked runner named Coroebus of Elis won.

This year, Matthew Mitcham, Sydney Australia's openly gay 20 year old diver, received the highest single-dive score in Olympic history with his backwards two and a half somersault with two and a half twist dive, winning himself the gold medal in the 10m platform diving final. Out of around 11,000 participants, Mitcham was the only openly gay male Olympian in Beijing. He struggled to get his partner, Lachlan Fletcher, into China with him and has repeatedly spoken about his sexual orientation in interviews. Yet there has however been limited coverage of the struggles of this brave person in the storm of media surrounding the games.

Every four years the eyes of countless spectators, citizens of every nation, are on these young people and one hopes that nations cheer for their champion’s victory with great pride regardless of sexual orientation. So what is the importance of having more of these young role models disclosing their sexuality?

Growing up gay in a straight world is difficult to say the least. Every movie, nursery rhyme, TV commercial and cartoon tells you that you're different. For many, the unspoken sense of shame, the feelings that they had somehow disappointed their family, the sense that something they did or that by being different somehow rightfully incited the teasing and mockery gay kids receive from other children are overwhelming. The resultant need to keep feelings a secret culminates in kids growing up believing they are second class citizens. Therefore, to witness the world cheer as young gay men perform near superhuman feats of strength and grace goes a long way to healing what remains of years of shame and self-loathing.

Like it or not, we live in a world where the volume of role models for young gay men is slim. Television and films are full of gay characters who are deviants, tragic figures or clowns. Where a straight boy can turn on a TV at any time of the day and see sports heroes, TV dads, judges, policemen, pilots and even political figures a gay boy might see Jack from ‘Will and Grace’. A character that is marginally acceptable because he is there to be laughed at.

When Matthew Mitcham took his Olympic gold dive a message went out to every young gay boy around the world:

You can do anything you want to do. No matter what your family, the people at school or your church tells you - you are a person of worth and you are fine just the way you are.

This may not have been the far reaching intention of Mitcham but I salute his bravery in facing a not always accepting world and in so doing making life a little easier for so many young people around the world.

 

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