More than 40 out Olympians compete at Rio

by Rob Howard
Associate Editor

Buried in the hype for the Rio Olympics are bits and pieces about the reported more than 40 out competitors at the games. Earlier in the week, Elena Delle Donne, a WNBA star came out in the August issue of Vogue(see The Gayly’s coverage of Donne here). There are 11 publicly out male athletes, though none are from the United States, according to OutSports.com.

Eight Team USA women are openly gay, with basketball heading the list, according to OutSports’ list of LGB Olympians. In addition to Elena Delle Donne (basketball), they are Seimone Augustus (basketball), Kelly Griffin (rugby), Brittney Griner (basketball), Angel McCoughtry (basketball), Ashley Nee (kayak whitewater slalom), Jilllion Potter (rugby) and Megan Rapinoe (soccer).

There are no openly transgender athletes in the games this year.

Here is OutSports’ list of LGBTI athletes.

Nicola Adams (Great Britain, boxing)

Seimone Augustus (USA, basketball)

Tom Bosworth (Great Britain, race walk)

Dutee Chand (India, track & field)

Tom Daley (Great Britain, diving)

Carlien Dirkse van den Heuvel (Netherlands, field hockey)

Lisa Dahlkvist (Sweden, soccer)

Elena Delle Donne  (USA, basketball)

Katie Duncan (New Zealand, soccer)

Nilla Fisher (Sweden, soccer)

Amini Fonua  (Tonga, swimming)

Larissa França (Brazil, beach volleyball)

Edward Gal (Netherlands, equestrian)

Kelly Griffin  (USA, rugby)

Brittney Griner (USA, basketball)

Carl Hester (Great Britain, equestrian)

Michelle Heyman (Australia, soccer)

Mélanie Henique  (France, swimming)

Stephanie Labbe  (Canada, soccer)

Alexandra Lacrabère  (France, handball)

Hedvig Lindahl (Sweden, soccer)

Ari-Pekka Liukkonen (Finland, swimming)

Robbie Manson (New Zealand, rowing)

Hans Peter Minderhoud (Netherlands, equestrian)

Ian Matos (Brazil, diving)

Angel McCoughtry (USA, basketball)

Nadine Müller  (Germany, discus)

Marie-Eve Nault (Canada, soccer)

Ashley Nee  (USA, kayak whitewater slalom)

Maartje Paumen (Netherlands, field hockey)

Mayssa Pessoa (Brazil, handball)

Jillion Potter  (USA, rugby)

Megan Rapinoe (USA, soccer)

Helen Richardson-Walsh (Great Britain, field hockey)

Kate Richardson-Walsh (Great Britain, field hockey)

Carolina Seger  (Sweden, soccer)

Caster Semenya (South Africa, track & field)

Martina Strutz  (Germany, pole vault)

Susannah Townsend  (Great Britian, field hockey)

Sunette Stella Viljoen  (South Africa, javelin)

Julia Vasconcelos  (Brazil, taekowndo)

Jeffrey Wammes  (Netherlands, gymnastics)

Spencer Wilton  (Great Britain, equestrian)

The Gayly – August 7, 2016 @ 7:40 a.m.