A record number of athletes openly identifying as LGBTQ+ are competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics, a massive leap during a competition that organisers have pushed to centre around inclusion and diversity.
One-hundred-and-ninety-one athletes publicly have said they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and nonbinary, according to Outsports, an organisation that compiles a database of openly queer Olympians. The vast majority of the athletes are women.
That number has quashed the previous record of 186 'out' athletes counted at the COVID-delayed Tokyo Olympics held in 2021 and the count is only expected to grow at future Olympics.
"More and more people are coming out," said Outsports co-founder Jim Buzinski. "They realise it's important to be visible, because there's no other way to get representation."
'We all belong'
The number of people willing to take the spotlight as LGBTQ+ Olympians has skyrocketed in past decades. Buzinski says, when they started tracking the numbers at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, they counted only about five people.
Paris Olympics organisers have underscored diversity and inclusion as major themes, showcasing drag queens and refugee athletes in the opening ceremony, and receiving blowback from religious conservatives.
"In our Olympic world, we all belong," said International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach in a speech during the opening ceremony.
Because of that and Paris' reputation as the 'City of Love', Buzinski and LGBTQ+ advocates see the Paris Games as an opportunity for athletes who hail from parts of the world where competitors can't be openly gay, because of harsh restrictions on queer populations.
"Coming to Paris, coming to France, they are able to be their true selves," said Paris Olympics Pride House co-chair Jérémy Goupille.
The Pride House, which debuted at the 2010 Olympics, is located on a boat floating on the Seine River, and will feature live music and speeches from Olympic organisers at its opening.
Grindr features disabled
Goupille says security concerns still remain for many athletes. Dating apps like Grindr, Bumble and Tinder have long been used as a shield for gay athletes who want to connect with other queer people in the countries where they are competing, but don't want to feel publicly exposed.
In previous Games, some have tried to expose athletes that are not officially out by checking heights, weights and locations of people on those apps.
Because of that, Grindr has announced its has disabled location-based features within the Olympic athletes village and other official Games areas, saying it would allow LGBTQ+ athletes to connect “authentically without worrying about prying eyes or unwanted attention”.
The app made the same decision for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
“If an athlete is not out, or comes from a country where being LGBTQ+ is dangerous or illegal, using Grindr can put them at risk of being outed by curious individuals, who may try to identify and expose them on the app," said Grindr.
Disabling those features has met with some criticism on social media, after some users reported problems accessing the app in the Olympic village.
“You have to protect them, because so many bad people exist," said Goupille. "At the same time, there are so many beautiful athletes.
"They want to meet someone and it's difficult."
SHARE ME