What teams are you cheering on at The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris? According to OutSports, at least 155 out athletes from 25 countries around the world are competing in many categories, including basketball, field hockey, gymnastics, tennis, volleyball, and more. Big names competing this year include track star Sha’Carri Richardson, trans nonbinary runner Nikki Hiltz, and British diver Tom Daley.
Hiltz made history as she qualified for the games this year, finishing in record time for a 1500m race in the U.S. Olympic Track and Field trials. “I wanted to run this one for my community,” they told OutSports. “All the LGBT folks, yeah, you guys brought me home that last hundred [meters]. I could just feel the love and support.”
However, according to NBC News, Outsports co-founder Cyd Zeigler said that the number of out athletes is expected to grow as the games ensue, as has occurred in previous years. “We’ve already, in the last 24 hours, heard of about a half dozen out athletes that we did not know of,” Zeigler said.
NBC reports that a majority of queer athletes slated to compete this year are women, noting that lesbians and other queer women represent at least half of two teams: the U.S. women’s basketball team, and the Australian women’s soccer team. Between these teams there are around 30 queer athletes. Zeigler attributed this phenomenon to women’s sports being traditionally more welcoming and accepting than men’s sports.
This year the International Olympic Committee is supporting Team LGBTQ with the latest installation of the Olympic Pride House along the Seine River. This hospitality provides a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community competing, attending, and reporting on the Olympics.
LGBTQ+ viewers watching the games can be proud knowing that queer representation at the Olympics is growing.
