What Tom Daley’s divg gold medal means to this gay man - Outsports

Contents:

• 'I FEEL VERY EMPOWERED': DIVER TOM DALEY DISCS BEG OPENLY GAY AFTER WNG GOLD
• TOM DALEY ‘CREDIBLY PROUD’ TO BE A GAY MAN AND OLYMPIC CHAMPN AFTER WNG GOLD
• DIVER TOM DALEY WS GOLD: 'I AM A GAY MAN AND ALSO AN OLYMPIC CHAMPN'
• WHAT TOM DALEY’S GOLD MEDAL MEANS TO THIS GAY MAN
• TOM DALEY ‘CREDIBLY PROUD TO SAY I AM GAY AND AN OLYMPIC CHAMPN’
• TOM DALEY IS DAMN PROUD TO BE AN OPENLY GAY OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST
• CELEBRATG LGBTQ SPORTS HISTORY: OUT GAY DIVER MATTHEW MCHAM WS OLYMPIC GOLD
• WATCH: THE BT FROM 6 OLYMPIC GAY DIVERS
• BRISH DIVER TOM DALEY AFTER WNG FIRST GOLD MEDAL: 'I FEEL CREDIBLY PROUD THAT I AM A GAY MAN AND ALSO AN OLYMPIC CHAMPN'

'I FEEL VERY EMPOWERED': DIVER TOM DALEY DISCS BEG OPENLY GAY AFTER WNG GOLD

"I feel credibly proud to say that I am a gay man and also an Olympic champn, " he add. Daley publicly announced he was gay 2013 followg his bronze medal London, sayg he always felt he was "alone and different and didn't f.

TOM DALEY ‘CREDIBLY PROUD’ TO BE A GAY MAN AND OLYMPIC CHAMPN AFTER WNG GOLD

Tom Daley and his divg partner, Matty Lee, brought home a gold medal for Team Great Bra Monday on the synchronized 10-meter platform dive, and the victory was pecially meangful for Daley his send Olympics as an openly gay me out a YouTube vio 2013 shortly after he began datg his now-hband, Dt Lance Black.

"I feel credibly proud to say that I’m a gay man and also an Olympic champn, " Daley said via the Olympic News Service after wng gold. For Daley, who is openly gay, and Lee, was a stunng w over the favored Che divers Cao Yuan and Chen Aisen and played out dramatic fashn that saw the Brs w the gold by 1.

DIVER TOM DALEY WS GOLD: 'I AM A GAY MAN AND ALSO AN OLYMPIC CHAMPN'

After the petn, Daley had some powerful ments on what meant to w the gold medal as an openly gay athlete. “I feel credibly proud to say I am a gay man and also an Olympic champn. Bra’s Tom Daley got his long-awaed gold medal divg on Monday at the Tokyo Olympics and livered an spirg msage to his gay fans.

WHAT TOM DALEY’S GOLD MEDAL MEANS TO THIS GAY MAN

“I hope that any young LGBT person out there n see that no matter how alone you feel right now, you are not alone and that you n achieve anythg and there is a whole lot of your chosen fay out here ready to support you, ” said Daley, who paired wh Matty Lee to pture the men’s synchronized 10-meter, who won bronze the dividual 10-meter platform London 2012 and a bronze the synchronized platform R 2016, clared:“I feel credibly proud to say that I am a gay man and also an Olympic champn. Now as an LGBTQ activist, Louganis looks back on the 80s and shar how he was treated as a gay profsnal athlete and Olympic in.

He went on to w the gold medal and bee the first man to w back-to-back Olympic golds both the sprgboard and platform divg what had ially appeared to be a straightforward eback story beme more plited when Louganis revealed seven years later that he was gay and that he had been diagnosed wh HIV six months before the 1988 Gam. ”She adds that “ 1988, there’s an assumptn that Olympians are jt not gay...

But there was still no effective treatment, people were dyg by the thoands and many Amerins wrongly believed was only a “gay man’s disease. When Daley me out December 2013, I was 34 years old and jt startg the procs of gettg fortable wh beg gay.

TOM DALEY ‘CREDIBLY PROUD TO SAY I AM GAY AND AN OLYMPIC CHAMPN’

As I viewed Daley’s vlogs, I realized this was the first time I was seekg out vios of a stunngly betiful gay man while beg jt barely hont enough wh myself to acknowledge that I found him attractive.

As I saw him grow to beg te to his thentic self and lettg see him as a gay man livg proudly and enthiastilly, I realized an important distctn. But seeg Daley as an example of someone who was so ee and happy, I began to unrstand that not only was I gay, but for the first time my life, I wanted to be gay. To hear him say “I feel credibly proud to say I am a gay man and also an Olympic champn” was doubly so.

Per The Guardian, Daley, who me out 2013, said after his long-awaed gold, “I feel credibly proud to say that I am a gay man and also an Olympic champn. Barthel is divg for Germany and do not classify himself as gay or straight but simply intifi as “human. He was adopted om Cambodia at 18 months, and his adoptive father, Jerry, is gay.

TOM DALEY IS DAMN PROUD TO BE AN OPENLY GAY OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST

In addn, Wdle has ntributed to the It Gets Better mpaign and was mentored om an early age by gay divg legend Greg Louganis—to the pot where he was nicknamed “The Ltle Louganis. He’s one of the bt and most important stori of the Tokyo Gam after wng his first gold medal Men’s Synchro wh divg partner Matty Lee and spirg lns by clarg, “I feel credibly proud to say I am a gay man and also an Olympic champn.

Wng Olympic gold as a gay manDaley me out as gay 2013 and married Osr-wng screenwrer and producer Dt Lance Black May 2017. But there are still those untri where beg gay is punishable by ath.

"Lots of people would e out after they had retired, so I jt hope that wng an Olympic gold medal, wng any Olympic medal, gog to the Olympics as a gay person, a member of the LGBT muny, that any young kids out there that feel like they are ls than...

CELEBRATG LGBTQ SPORTS HISTORY: OUT GAY DIVER MATTHEW MCHAM WS OLYMPIC GOLD

“I feel credibly proud to say that I am a gay man and also an Olympic champn.

As the stereotype go, gays may not be able to drive. But they n certaly thank openly gay Brish diver Tom Daley, 27, who won Olympic gold on Monday after a 13-year pursu.

WATCH: THE BT FROM 6 OLYMPIC GAY DIVERS

Followg his victory, Daley spoke at a prs nference about beg an openly gay Olympian. “I feel credibly proud to say that I am a gay man and also an Olympic champn, ” Daley Lance Black, Daley’s hband and the Osr-wng screenwrer of Milk, praised his hband’s victory on Twter. Today, we revis Augt 23, 2008, the day Beijg, Cha, when an out gay man won a gold medal at the Olympic Summer Gam.

What Mcham’s w means to gays everywhere. An openly gay male athlete won an Olympic gold medal. By wng the gold medal the men’s 10-meter platform divg, Mcham stck a goln blow for gay people everywhere who’ve been told they’re flawed or not good enough, pecially the athletic arena.

For all the gay men who have been lled weak, sissi, pansi, too emotnal, not tough enough to pete sports, that fal dive was for you. Wh his glor fal round of six div, the 20-year-old Atralian beme the most signifint openly gay male athlete ever (out lbians such as Marta Navratilova and Ameile Mrmo have won their fair share of tl). Watchg the divg all week, I would bet my life savgs that Mcham was not the only gay man on the sprgboard or platform.

BRISH DIVER TOM DALEY AFTER WNG FIRST GOLD MEDAL: 'I FEEL CREDIBLY PROUD THAT I AM A GAY MAN AND ALSO AN OLYMPIC CHAMPN'

And Greg Louganis, also gay and wner of multiple gold medals, is nsired the greatt diver ever. Never before have gay sports fan been able to watch a man they know is gay w such a major sportg event; no need for gaydar wh Matthew.