Team LGBTQ Comes 7th On Medal Tally In Queerest Olympics Ever
Image: L-R: Italian volleyball MVP Paola Egonu (right) and Giuditta Lualdi (left), Natalya Diehm, Tom Daley & Noah Williams. Sources: @giudilua_, @_natalyadiehm and @tomdaley on Instagram
The 193 LGBTQI+ athletes at this year’s Paris Olympics have performed phenomenally with a total of 42 medals, which would put Team LGBTQ in 7th place overall if they were their own nation.
With the Games officially concluded for another four years, OutSports reports that queer athletes have turned in an all-time best performance with 15 gold, 13 silver and 14 bronze medals across the Olympics. OutSports counts team victories as single medals, as does the official Olympics tally.
This overall 7th place finish is an improvement over 2020’s Tokyo Olympics, where the 186 queer athletes participating in those games would have finished 10th overall.
Notably, this final medal count for every openly queer athlete at the Games puts Team LGBTQ ahead of every country that still criminalises being gay, with victories across a variety of sports.
Notable victories for Team LGBTQ
Natalya Diehm, Australia’s BMX freestyle rep, brought home Australia’s first ever Olympic medal in the sport after securing the Bronze. She was elated to make history at Paris in the event’s nerve-wracking finale, where a number of impressive tricks secured her place in the Olympic annals.
Australia’s women’s basketball team won a Bronze medal for the first time since 2012, with players Samantha Whitcomb and Amy Atwell helping to end the long-term drought.
The USA Women’s Basketball team may have been the most openly queer team at this year’s Olympics, with over half of the players and coaches being publicly out. The team secured the gold with a nail-biting 67-66 victory over Olympics hosts France.
Italy’s Paola Egonu, a proud pansexual, was named team MVP for the vital role she played in her team’s Gold medal victory over the USA in volleyball. The accolades must feel even sweeter for Egonu, who was the target of racial abuse in 2022; talk about a comeback.
Ireland’s Kellie Harrington took her second Olympic Gold in the 60kg Boxing (lightweight), making her the first woman in Ireland’s history to achieve this feat. This was also Harrington’s final competition before retiring; what a note to go out on!
British diver Tom Daley also took home his 5th Olympic medal in Men’s Synchronised Diving alongside partner Noah Williams, solidifying his legacy in the sport.
