Tokyo 2020 Olympics, a record for openly gay athletes

The Tokyo Olympics will be the most openly gay ever. a word OutSports, which counted all recognized gay athletes eligible for the Olympics that will appear in just over a week.

Let’s talk at least 141 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gay, and bisexual athletes, which is more than double the number of those who participated in the 2016 Rio Games. There will be more publicly LGBT athletes in Tokyo than the number of athletes who have participated in all previous Olympic Games. An unusual and expected news that reflects the growing acceptance of LGBT people in the world of sport and in society itself. Social media like Instagram has provided thousands of athletes with a platform where they can finally be themselves, without fear.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics it counted 23 LGBT outspoken athletes competing, while in 2016 it was 56. Now we’re almost triple compared to what it was 5 years ago.

“Competing in the Olympics as an openly gay athlete is amazing‘, the Canadian swimmer admitted Marcus Thurmayr. Thormeyer also competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics, but he’s not out yet. “Being able to compete with the best in the world my true self in the greatest international multi-sports out there shows how far we have come to the world of sport. I hope that by participating in these games I can show the LGBTQ community that we exist and that we can achieve anything“.

This year, at least 25 different countries will be represented by at least one LGBT athlete in 26 sports, including the first historic trans athletes. The United States has the highest number of gay athletes declared at these Olympics, exceeding 30. They are followed by Canada (16), Great Britain (15), the Netherlands (13), New Zealand (9), Australia (9) and Brazil (8). These numbers also include the “reserve” athletes who will go to Tokyo with their national teams. There is also Italy with the swimmer Rachel Bruni The volleyball player Paula Iguno.

Women are much more numerous than men, by a margin of 8 to 1. The most popular sport is women’s football, with over 30 players on the field.

To follow all sports featuring at least one LGBT athlete at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.

3 x 3 basketball
Stephanie Dolson (USA)

Basketball
Julie Germain (Belgium)
Sue Bird (USA)
Paula Genzo (Spain)
Chelsea Gray (USA)
Britney Greiner (USA)
Sabrina Lozada Cabbage (Puerto Rican)
Kim Mustdagh (Belgium)
Leilani Mitchell (Australia)
Shayna Billington (Canada)
Dashali Salaman (Puerto Rico)
Brianna Stewart (USA)
Diana Torassi (USA)
Anne Waters (Belgium)

Free BMX
Perez Benegas (USA)
Hannah Roberts (USA)
Chelsea Wolf (USA, reserve)

boxing
Rashida Ellis (USA)
Kelly Harrington (Ireland)
Michaela Walsh (Ireland)

slalom boat
Evie Liebfarth (USA)
Florence Miho (Canada)

Cycling
Georgia Summerling (Canada)

Diving
Tom Daly (Great Britain)
Anton Dawn Jenkins (New Zealand)

Riding
Catherine Dufour (Denmark)
Edward Gall (Netherlands)
Karl Hester (Great Britain)
Domain Michaels (USA)
Hans Peter Minderhood (Netherlands)
Nick Wagman (USA, reserve)

Fence
Astrid Geert (France)

field hockey
Sarah Jones (Great Britain)
Grace O’Hanlon (New Zealand)
Susanna Townsend (Great Britain)
Leah Wilkinson (Great Britain)

golf
Mel Reed (Great Britain)
Alina Sharp (Canada)

handball
Arinhart Page (Brazil)
Natalie Hagmann (Sweden)
Alexandra Lakrabier (France)

judo
Amandine Bouchard (France)
Ts Savalkouls (Netherlands)

marathon
Ove Cook (Ireland)

Rowing
Saskia Budget (Britain, Protectorate)
Kendall Chase (USA)
Jia Donan (USA)
Martin Horkmans (Netherlands)
Megan O’Leary (USA)
Elaine Tomic (USA)
Emma Twigg (New Zealand)
Julian Finsky (USA)

Football
Naked Elisa (Canada)
Britt Bean (Canada)
Kelly Brazier (New Zealand)
Gail Broughton (New Zealand)
Isadora Cerullo (Brazil)
Megan Jones (Great Britain)
Elif Kelter (USA)
Ghislaine Landry (Canada)
Kylie Lucan (Canada)
Celia Kwansah (Great Britain)
Kristen Thomas (USA)
Ruby Toy (New Zealand)
Sharney Williams (Australia)
Portia Woodman (New Zealand)

navigation
Julanta Ugar (Poland)
Cecilia Carranza Saroli (Argentina)

shooting
Andrey Eleftherio (Cyprus)
Aleksandra Jarmolinska (Poland)

skiing
Margeline Daedal (Philippines)
Bobby Star Olsen (Australia)
Alexis Sablon (USA)
Alana Smith (USA)

football
Yeni Acuña Berrios (Chile)
Andressa Alves (Brazil, reserve)
Barbara Barbosa (Brazil)
Qadisha Buchanan (Canada)
Marta da Silva (Brazil)
Rachel Daley (Great Britain)
Tender Davidson (USA)
Anouk Dekker (Netherlands, reserve)
Christian Endler (Chile)
Abbey Ercig (New Zealand)
Magda Eriksson (Sweden)
CSKA Volkertsma (Netherlands)
Adriana French (USA)
Lena Hurtig (Sweden)
Sam Kerr (Australia)
Fran Kirby (Great Britain)
Stephanie Labbe (Canada)
Hedvig Lindahl (Sweden)
Chloe Lugarzo (Australia)
Erin McLeod (Canada, reserve)
Tegan Micah (Australia)
Vivian Midema (Netherlands)
Kelly O’Hara (USA)
Fernanda Pinilla (Chile)
Queen (Canada)
Megan Rapinoe (USA)
Jill Scott (Great Britain)
Caroline Seger (Sweden)
Kaelyn Sheridan (Canada)
Sherida Spitsy (Netherlands)
Demi Stokes (Great Britain)
Carly Telford (Great Britain)
Daniel van de Donk (Netherlands)
Shanice van de Sanden (Netherlands)
Stephanie van der Gragt (Netherlands)
Meryl van Dongen (Netherlands)
Hannah Wilkinson (New Zealand)
Tamika Yallop (Australia)

soft ball
Ally Carda (USA)
Amanda Chester (USA)
Taylor Edwards (USA, reserve)
Larissa Franklin (Canada)
Hayley McClane (USA)
Kaya Barnaby (Australia)
Anissa Ortiz (Mexico)

browse
Silvana Lima (Brazil)
Sofia Mulanovic (Peru)

swimming
Rachel Bruni (Italy)
Ana Marcela Cunha (Brazil)
Amini Fonua (Tonga)
Melanie Henick (France)
Ari Pekka Liukkonen (Finland)
Erica Sullivan (USA)
Marcus Thurmayr (Canada)

taekwondo
Jack Woolley (Ireland)

Tennis
Demi Shores (Netherlands)
Sam Stosur (Australia)
Alison van Uytvanck (Belgium)

Trace and scrutinize
Tom Bosworth (Britain, Race Walk)
Erica Bogard (USA, Hept)
Dhoti Chand (India, sprints)
Gabriella Debius-Stafford (Canada, 1500 AD)
Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela, triple jump)
Raven Saunders (USA, shot put)

volleyball
Anna Carolina (Brazil)
Douglas Sousa (Brazil)
Paola Igono (Italy)

Weight lifting
Laurel Hubbard (New Zealand)

wrestling
Kayla Miracle (USA)