Homosexuality and sports – for a long time it was a taboo story. As the excitement about the colors of the rainbow at the European Football Championship made clear, this is still true in men’s professional football. But a fundamental change is emerging for the Olympic Games.

Because there are more queer athletes in Tokyo than ever before. The US magazine “OutSport” has about 160. This is more than any other Olympic Games.

The pressure on male athletes is still high

Rio had just under 60 in 2016, and in 2012 it was in the top 20 in London. Prior to the first match, the team had won the ReasonBojan Games. She is even the first female trans athlete in Olympic history to register.

Finally – it seems – the overall developments in society are reflected in the Olympic sport. There are notable differences between the sexes: Eight out of ten athletes listed on “OutSport” are lesbian. Apparently the pressure on male athletes to keep their homosexuality a secret is still high.

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However, some queer Olympians are one of the greatest athletes in their country and sport.

Icon Megan Rapino

The best example is US soccer player Megan Rapino, already an Olympic champion and two-time world champion and captain of her team. The 36-year-old is an icon – because of her sporting success and her social and political commitment.

As the first white athlete, she knelt on the field in 2016 to support the Black Lives Matter movement. She fights for equal pay for women and men in US football. Her protest against Donald Trump at the 2019 World Cup stretched out her hands to the anti-Trump meme on social media and her joyful pose became legendary.

In 2012, Rapino publicized her lesbianism – just as aggressively as she campaigned for other issues, she campaigned for weird people. She wanted to cross boundaries, and she said: “There are still many clichഷേs and stereotypes that limit weird people.” If you follow Rapino’s work, you ask yourself if men’s professional football is really crazy on political issues. .

With so many queer women playing in the Olympic team sport of hockey, volleyball, basketball or rugby, Rapino is not the only open lesbian or bisexual woman on her team.

These are some of the queer athletes in Olympia (see the complete list of “outsports” Here):

Britney Greener is a basketball player. She is one of the best players in the WNBA, the US professional league, with her dunks and blocks, and she won gold in Rio four years ago.

Early in his career at WBNA, Griner was open about his sexual identity. She has repeatedly stated that she wants to work with strangers to empower them: “I Out I’m happy – I want young people to feel the same way. “

The fact that more athletes are coming out may also be related to social media. They can address fans directly on their own channels and tell their story without filtering.

The video released by Tom Daily has approximately 13 million views

The video released in 2013 by British diver Tom Daily has been viewed 13 million times on YouTube. Although Daley was only 19 years old, when he went public, he had already competed in two Olympic Games and was known as a football player in Great Britain.

There are things to do LGBTI is definitely still a bit. In terms of intersexuality, this shows the endless experiments surrounding runner Castor Semenya, who did not compete in her parade route because she would have to lower her testosterone levels.

And Germany? Sports shooter Jolin Beer hoisted the flag of the rainbow. According to “OutSport”, she is the only lesbian or gay athlete known to date from the German team. “Wife Jessica, a daughter” is very irrelevant Olympic Games Women Athlete Profile. She will start her first match on Saturday. Good luck!