A record 193 LGBTQ athletes to compete in Paris Olympics

At least 144 out LGBTQ athletes will be heading to Paris for the 2024 Summer Games, with a record number of out male Olympians, according to OutSports.

At least 193 out LGBTQ athletes will be in Paris for the 2024 Summer Games, according to the LGBTQ sports site OutSports.

This surpasses the record-setting Tokyo Olympics, held in the summer of 2021, where there were at least 186 out competitors.

Brazilian gymnast Arthur Nory Mariano is one of at least 20 out male Olympians competing in the Paris Olympics. Jam Media / Getty Images fileThis year, a record 20 male athletes participating in the summer Olympics are publicly out. Outsports co-founder Cyd Zeigler said equestrian, an Olympic sport with eight LGBTQ men participating, has “long been a leader in this space of out men.”

The vast majority of athletes on the list of queer Olympians, approximately 170, are women. Lesbians and other queer women represent more than half of at least two teams: the U.S. women’s basketball team, where seven of the 12 players are out, and the Australian women’s soccer team, where at least 12 of the 18 players are out. 

“Given how many lesbians are in women’s elite level sports, it’s just been a more welcoming place than men’s sports for a long time, just because of the huge percentage of elite level athletes, particularly in Western culture, who are LGBTQ in women’s sports,” Zeigler said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/nbc-out-proud/lgbtq-athletes-paris-olympics-rcna162518

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