Out and Golden, Aussie Matt Mitcham Wins 10m Platform Diving

Matthew Mitcham did two very surprising things at the Beijing Olympics. First, he snatched a gold medal away from the apparently invincible Chinese diving team. Second, Mitcham openly told anyone who asked about his sexuality that he is gay. Matt is undaunted on the platform, and he’s just as fearless about his personal life.

Making his Olympic debut in Beijing in the 10m platform event, Australia’s Mitcham earned four perfect 10’s on his last dive Saturday night, winning the men’s 10m platform diving competition. His stunning upset victory prevented China from sweeping all eight of the Olympic diving gold medals. Not only was Mitcham’s triumph an astonishing upset win, his sixth and final dive was the highest scoring dive in Olympic history.

From 2002 until 2006, Mitcham was an award winning diver in both junior and senior national and international diving competitions. But in 2006 he suddenly quit diving, suffering both emotional burnout and physical exhaustion after spending years in the Australian program’s rigid training regimen. For a long period of time the young Mitcham had to battle anxiety and depression, which led him to begin psychotherapy and required him to spend some time on medication.

A year later, Mitcham returned to the sport and in 2008, Mitcham won all three of his diving events at the Australian Nationals. He followed this spectacular comeback appearance by winning the 2008 Diving Grand Prix event in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Then just three months prior to leaving with the Australian team to compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Mitcham made headlines in Australia when he revealed to the Sydney Morning Herald that he is gay. With his public statement, Matt Mitcham became a historic Olympic figure, the first and only man among 10,500 Olympic athletes to have publicly stated that he is gay while still participating in Olympic competition.

When asked what this Olympic victory meant to him after the tumultuous ups and downs of his last few years, Mitcham stated, “Everything, absolutely everything I’ve done has been for this. I knew it was a far chance, but I did absolutely everything I could to give myself the best chance of doing it. It’s actually happened, and I never thought it would.”

This detailed article includes a number of stunning photographs, as well as two videos (the amazing 10m platform diving finals, which includes Mitcham's unforgettable historic final dive; the 10m Olympic Gold Ceremony).

Enjoy and marvel at this young man!!