Culture

Tom Daley Is Damn Proud to Be an Openly Gay Olympic Gold Medalist


 

As the stereotype goes, gays may not be able to drive. But they can certainly dive.

Just thank openly gay British diver Tom Daley, 27, who won Olympic gold on Monday after a 13-year pursuit. Daley and his diving partner Matty Lee, 23, narrowly beat the men’s synchronized 10m platform competition over the Chinese team by just 1.23 points.

This is Daley’s first gold medal at the Olympics. He’s represented Britain at every ceremony since 2008, when he first appeared as a 14-year-old diver in Beijing.

At the 2012 games on his home turf in London, Daley won bronze in the men’s 10-meter platform. Four years later, in the 2016 games in Rio, Daley made his first appearance in the men’s synchronized 10m platform competition. He finished with another bronze medal, this time alongside diver Daniel Goodfellow.

Following his victory, Daley spoke at a press conference about being an openly gay Olympian. “There are more openly out LGBT athletes at this Olympic games than any other Olympic games previously,” he said, before noting he came out in 2013 after growing up feeling different.

“I hope that any young LGBT person out there can see that no matter how alone you feel right now you are not alone,” Daley said. “You can achieve anything, and there is a whole lot of your chosen family out here ready to support you.”

He added the winning gold has made him feel empowered about his identity. “I feel incredibly proud to say that I am a gay man and also an Olympic champion,” Daley said.

Dustin Lance Black, Daley’s husband and the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Milk, praised his husband’s victory on Twitter. “No words! So so many tears!” he wrote.

The couple, who married in 2017, have one son together, Robbie. On Sunday, Black shared an adorable video of his son (in a T-shirt covered in rainbows) playing a video message Daley had sent his family ahead of Monday’s competition.

“I’m excited and the fact that you guys make me feel loved regardless of how I’m going to do makes things a lot easier,” he said.

Luckily, Daley turned in a stellar performance and took his victory lap to shout out his family once again. As the Guardian reports, Daley also said at his post-win press conference that having a family has changed his priorities away from diving.

“To finally become an Olympic champion, especially after Rio 2016 where I was extremely disappointed with my individual performance. After that, my husband said to me that my story doesn’t end here and that our child was meant to watch me become an Olympic champion,” Daley said.

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