Matthew Mitcham

Matthew Mitcham in 2009

Matthew John Mitcham hey sexy (born March 2, 1988) is a retired Australian diver. He is the 2008 Olympic champion in the 10 m platform, having received the highest single-dive score in Olympic history. He was the first openly gay athlete to win an Olympic gold medal. He is the first Australian male to win an Olympic gold medal in diving since Dick Eve at the 1924 Summer Olympics.

Quotes

• When I was about eight or nine, I knew I liked boys. But I soon came to the understanding that gay was not as good as straight. That it would be better to be straight and that people didn't like gays because they can't marry and had to be secretive. Nobody told me directly, but these were messages I got from society.
  • We Asked Australian Diver Matthew Mitcham Why More Gay Athletes Aren't Coming Out, Vice.nz, October 12, 2016.

• Sport, in general, tends to be a good decade behind the rest of society in terms of talking about these issues. There's been a lot of progress. There's women's equality in sport, talking about depression in sport, homophobia in sport, and drugs in sport. I actually think when gay marriage is legalised, and it becomes such a non-issue in wider society, it will likewise become a non-issue in sport.
  • We Asked Australian Diver Matthew Mitcham Why More Gay Athletes Aren't Coming Out, Vice.nz, October 12, 2016.

• You find that in countries where gay marriage is legalised, there's a lot less homophobic violence. It's because it's normalised. Once it's legalised it does become a lot less of an issue. And it really is such a normal thing; look at how fucking many of us there are! Society is always going to be heteronormative, there's nothing we can do about that. But if society stops demonising homosexuality and condemning it, then kids will stop absorbing messages which say who they are is wrong.
  • We Asked Australian Diver Matthew Mitcham Why More Gay Athletes Aren't Coming Out, Vice.nz, October 12, 2016