Greg Louganis credits Matthew Mitcham for wave of out LGBT athletes at Olympics in Rio

Greg Louganis gives Matthew Mitcham all the credit.

There are at least 49 openly lesbian, gay and bisexual Olympians competing in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro – up from 23 that participated in London 2012.

But back in 2008 when the Olympics were held in Beijing, there was just one: Mitcham.

The Australian diver had come out before the start of those games and went on to win gold in the 10 m platform after receiving the highest single-dive score in Olympic history.

‘I really kind of tip my hat to Matthew Mitcham, because he really started the whole thing and he was still competing,’ Louganis tells The Advocate.

‘And the way that he explained it was he felt he couldn’t compete on that high a level only sharing a part of himself. And I admire that so much. I thought that wonderful. And when he won the gold in Beijing, it was like through the roof.’

When Louganis competed in his first Olympics in Montreal in 1976, he was just 16 and still in high school. He took silver and was nowhere near coming out. He went on to win double gold in 1984 in Los Angeles and 1988 in Seoul.

It was not until 1994 and long after retirement that Louganis came out the world.

‘I was concerned about coming out because I didn’t want it to be about the gay athlete, the gay diver – that was my concern because the media has a tendency of pushing a headline and labeling,’ he explains. ‘It’s individual, everyone is on their own journey … they really have to follow their own path.’

But if he were to give an athlete a nudge out of the closet Louganis would do so by saying: ‘I think you’ll find more support than you think.’

Made aware of Louganis’ comments, Mitcham recently tweeted in response: ‘It helped that my idol was gay @greglouganis.’