Australian diver Matthew Mitcham wins gold, NBC snubs gay community

Its more than he was simply gay. He had the highest dicing score in Olympic history in the final round, he stopped the Chinese and stunned the entire nation of China, he actually had a real story of love (he couldnt afford to get his partner and mom to the games).

Him being gay is more about "ohh cool hes gay". Its about a hero, and image. He basically slapped all the stereotypes in the face. Hes an inspiration to tons of young gay athletes now. China, a nation that dislikes homosexuality was stopped by a homosexual from getting a sweep of golds in diving. He went through depression and almost quit the sport entirely.

NBC already knew about his homosexuality, it was on their website even. BBC, Australian news networks, and other internation networks talked about it, yet NBC didnt. His story was real, a true Olympian story, a story of someone who really faced challenges.

I think this is worth mentioning. I read that the IOC would not pay for Matthew's partner to come to the games (i dont know what policy is on spousal travel privilages for the IOC) so his sponsor Johnson&Johnoson took care of those arrangements for them to be able to be together at the games.

while i get that they didnt mention it and i get that they covered alot of athletes stories, i dont necessarily see any evidence of censorship. But i still think its worth mentioning. I rooted for Matthew and am extremely happy that hes brave enough to have come out, but foremost hes an athlete and in the context its not as necessary to cover this...

On the other hand i do feel a bit jaded at the fact that NBC didnt cover this and sort of just swept it under the rug and ignored it, especially since we know how many butthairs are on michael phelps ass (none btw). Thanks NBC. They did really shy away from ANY controversy. Pansy bitches.

Yeah, it's definately a double standard. It's only news if they are gay AND dangerous. If they are a positive role model then that's not important and definately shouldn't be aired on tv.

Someone asked "Do you care that he's gay,... a lot of people don't".
Answer: Yes, I do care that he's gay, in the sense that none of the progress made for gays in the last 30 years could have happened if everyone had stayed in the closet. Visibility is what made people change their minds about the false stereotypes they had about gays - and that visibility includes knowing that your sports idols are gay.

If people aren't told, the automatic assumption is that they are straight. Mitcham was the FIRST and ONLY gay to come out before these games, but he is certainly not the only gay who participated in them. If the world knew who the others were, it would help fight homophobia and at the same time allow other gays to identify and be proud.

Black people are proud when one of their own wins, Canadians (or whoever) are proud when one of their countrymen wins. Well, why shouldn't gays all over the world be given the chance to be proud each time a gay athlete wins? It shows the world that gays can be rough, tough, the best, and would certainly force some people to change their negative attitudes. Isn't all of that reason enough for the news journalists and others to care?

As for Mitcham, it was very brave of him to come out before the games. So many great athletes get subsidies and prize money or contracts with sportswear conglomerates if they win the games. (Phelps has been promised $2 milllion by Adidas.) Mitcham had no means of knowing in advance whether coming out might hurt him financially because some companies might flinch at using a gay man in their ads... but he decided to out himself anyway. Such courage SHOULD be rewarded, and credit SHOULD be given where it is due. 'Nuff said!

this and all chanels should take this approach to ALL atheletes, regardless of sexuality.

NBC can suck it... Who cares if they support gays or not, I don't need their approval or promotion to live my life. Don't take it as a snub, take as proof of their policy and just don't watch, or just watch the really good shows and nothing else.

If they shy away from one athlete's love life, than they should avoid the subject all together for all of the athletes. Anyway you slice it, it's simply not fair and lends credence to the underlying belief that a gay person's relationship can never be as important as a straight person's

I agree that is about the athletes ability,
but its true that when someone does win they show their happy loved ones...

wheres the love?

it's not so much a question of whether or not NBC should make his personal life a topic of interest, it's more a question of whether or not NBC decided to avoid the subject altogether.

yeah, i guess it would be nice if NBC focused more on the athletics and less on the personal lives of the athletes. but they don't. announcers will talk about anything that they consider of interest. that usually includes the personal lives of stand-out athletes. i mean, you can only talk about the scoring system of gymnastics so many times.

i didn't really expect them to make a mini-movie about his being gay to show in-between dives. but i do think the fact that he is the only openly gay athlete to compete at the Beijing Olympics is something worth noting. especially considering that, by winning gold, he upset the Chinese from sweeping the diving competitions. it's kind of a big deal.

they didn't even show his family and boyfriend in the audience cheering for him.

I watched him win that gold on T.V. it was very exciting but I don't remember seeing his family/friends support. He's an extraordinary athlete and the Olympics don't really give medals to you for who you have sex with. Maybe they will show that he is gay in order to appeal to other LGBT viewers.

There are two reasons why NBC should have mentioned it.
First, because TV often tells background stories on an athlete's life... like the weightlifter whose wife died in an accident a year before the Olympics, and he held up her photo while on the podium. Or the French female swimmer whose love life was told to everyone around the world (she changed trainers - both were her lovers). If background about other athletes is OK, then THIS athlete's background should also be acceptable.
Second... it's NEWS! He is the FIRST Olympic athlete to be out of the closet BEFORE going to the Olympics... he made history twice, therefore, by winning AND by being out. This also makes him the perfect model for other gays, and a perfect model for straights who think in stereotypes.

And for those who are interested, he actually gave up diving for a while, and it was his boyfriend who helped him find the strength to get back into it.

Why should the public be privy to his public life. Not everyone wants to have their private life displayed to the world. We Australians are much more private than you yanks and maybe it was a decision on his part not to make his entire diary available to all of America.

Perhaps they didn't mention his orientation because it wasn't special. The examples of relationships talked about such as the love triangle between French and Italian swimmers, Walsh's wedding ring debacle and Sanya Richards' relationship are all stories. Perhaps being gay isn't that big of a deal these days.

i only really remember hearing about traenor and walsh's love life, and then the italian swimmer.......where are you getting that they talk about all of their love lives? Beyond that, hes australian, and perhaps nbc felt the american people wouldnt care as much about an aussie person that no one knows about as much as the americans. I think your reaching on this one

NBC has no implicit or explicit impetus to talk about anyone, or parts of anyone’s life that is a competitor in these Olympics. More than in years past, most of the coverage focused on the competition. I am in favor of more sports and less Bob Costas! I saw tons of women compete and no mention was ever made of their family or personal life, just their competition history and preparedness. Maybe his being gay is not that compelling a story and NBC should not feel pressure to cover his personal life. Let's hope they just talk about how great a diver he is and if people seek out his personal life later maybe they will learn more about themselves than if NBC said 'oh, and he's gay!' Sounds like a handicap now doesn't it??

I agree, TyMarshal, it's should only be about the sports, not the athletes' personal lives.

Unless, of course, they're American (and straight, natch'), in which case we need to see everything about them -- instead of watching something else, something other than synchronized diving, women's beach volleyball or Michael Phelps. But I think those are the only Olympic sports left... at least according to NBC.

Thanks to DefenderOfPants and to Brockie,

Well, I have a big, big story coming out about Matthew Mitcham in just a few minutes. A very detailed article, with a number of stunning photographs of Matt, plus two videos (the 10m platform diving finals, which includes Matt's amazing performance; and the Gold Medal Ceremony).

With my very best wishes!

I (sadly) can understand NBC for their actions. I'm sure if they did a story on him and his private life that the loonies from the religious right would have gone crazy. Then there would have been boycots of sponsors products. petitions, hate mail and threats. You know how they are. All those religious zealots think they have the right to control everyone else and how they think and live.