Megan Rapinoe (L), Tom Daley (C) and Laurel Hubbard are among the LGBT+ athletes representing their countries at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. (Alex Grimm/Matthew Stockman/Scott Barbour/Getty)
If LGBT+ Olympic athletes competed as a team, they would have come 11th in this year’s Tokyo Games, research has found.
A total of 55 out LGBT+ athletes took home Olympic medals this year, from 35 different sports.
If LGBT+ Olympians had competed as their own country, it would have won a grand total of 32 team and individual medals – 11 gold, 12 silver and nine bronze, according to NBC News.
This would have put “Team LGBT+” in 11th place overall, right behind France and ahead of Canada and Brazil.
A record number of LGBT+ athletes took part in the 2021 Olympics, with at least 182 openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, queer and non-binary athletes participating.
Openly LGBT+ Olympic medallists
Media attention was focused on Quinn, the footballer who became the first out trans Olympic medallist when Canada won the gold in women’s football; New Zealand’s Laurel Hubbard, the first openly trans woman to compete at the Olympics; and gay British diver Tom Daley.
But scores more openly LGBT+ athletes competed and won medals in Tokyo, including Filipino lesbian boxer Nesthy Petecio, who dedicated her silver medal win to the LGBT+ community; French judoka Amandine Buchard, who also won a silver medal in the women’s -52kg competition; and gay British rider Carl Hester, who took home a bronze medal in the team dressage event.
The Associated Press reported last month that six French athletes, including Buchard, came out as part of the LGBT+ community for a documentary. Buchard shared that she was “very scared” to speak about her sexuality when she was young, and she described how she “cried a lot and shut myself away” as a result.
OutSports reported that three LGBT+ members of the USA women’s softball team – Ally Carda, Amanda Chidester and Haylie McCleney – also took home a silver medal after being defeated by Japan in the gold medal match.
Canadian softball team members Larissa Franklin and Joey Lye proudly took home bronze medals after a narrow loss to the Mexican team.
Where do we sign the petition for “Team LGBT+” at the 2024 Olympics?