Producing the highest-scoring dive in Olympic history to win gold hasn't been enough for Matthew Mitcham to attract a single sponsor since the Beijing Games. But sports fans last night ensured he got some long-overdue recognition at the Sports Performer Awards presented by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in conjunction with Colonial First State in Melbourne. Readers voted that Mitcham's upset win over his favoured Chinese opponents, sealed with a final dive that received a perfect 10 from four of the seven diving judges, was the year's best sporting achievement. Despite being the first Australian male to win a diving gold medal for 84 years, Mitcham has since discovered that producing that record-breaking dive "hasn't been a financial goldmine". One possible explanation, unfortunately, for the lack of interest is that Mitcham is openly gay, although David Lyall, from Mitcham's management group said the diver's sexuality had "never come up in discussions" with prospective sponsors, reports SMH.

Australian Diver Matthew Mitcham has become a gay icon since Beijing Olympics 2008. SX News releases an interview where he said: "I’m not really that famous, I’m just not anonymous anymore, that’s all." He also commented NBC's controversy not covering his background like other athlete's coverage: "I did get sent links about it, so I found out about it, but in all honesty it wasn’t really my fight, and I wasn’t offended. It was other people that were making complaints and who were really into it. I don’t know whether or not NBC did it on purpose – I don’t really care. I’m pretty thick-skinned." As for the endless speculation over sponsorship deals and advertising, he only says: “There’s been expressions of interest, but nothing has been signed. We’re working on things.” Read full interview here.

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Australian Matthew Mitcham has won a gold medal in the men’s 10 metre platform diving in Beijing, the Sunday Times reports. The 20-year-old openly gay diver produced a sensational final dive that the judges awarded a score of 112.10. Mitcham achieved an overall score of 537.95 to defeat China's Zhou Luxin (533.15), who had led the final until the final round, to grab Australia's second diving medal of the Games. After struggling to combat his nerves in the 3m springboard competition, in which he missed the final, Mitcham took a different approach to his 10m campaign to ensure the butterflies were kept at bay. "I have tried approaching 10m a lot different to 3m and just trying to enjoy the competition and just have fun," Mitcham said before the final. "The main thing for me is to try and have fun and it seems to relax me more and I have been diving a bit better."

In August, diver Matthew Mitcham will become the first openly-gay Australian to compete in an Olympic Games. A casual remark to a journalist during an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald led to a flurry of international publicity (see previous post). Speaking to Australian gay magazine SX during a break from training at the Sydney Aquatic Centre in Homebush, Matthew Mitcham is nonplussed by all the fuss. "It’s not really a big deal," he says. "It’s not like I’m a different person. It’s not like I was straight before. So nothing really has changed." In fact, Mitcham doesn’t even agree that he "came out" last month. "I came out years ago. All that happened recently was that I was doing an interview with the Herald and there was a pretty innocuous question, 'Who do I live with?' and I just said 'my partner Lachlan'. Mitcham is aware that other people do see it as "a big deal" and he’s happy to wear the mantle of "role model" for young gay guys.


When asked for his view on same-sex marriage, he has no compunction slamming Prime Minister Kevin Rudd: "I’m not happy with Kevin Rudd," he says, bluntly. "Kevin Rudd’s opinion of marriage as something that’s only between a man and a woman is quite narrow-minded. During the election campaign he was all about appearing young and cool, but his views on gay marriage make him look quite old-fashioned." But of course, gay politics is not Mitcham’s primary focus right now. "All my energy is focused on Beijing right now," says a tenacious Mitcham. "I’ve been diving since I was eleven, so it’s been nine years of work leading up to this." Read the full interview here.

Australian diver Matthew Mitcham, 20, revealed his sexuality in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald. When Mitcham balances on the Beijing diving tower this August, like all Australian Olympians, he will be hoping the ones he loves will be there to watch him. The gold medal hopeful's journey has not been easy. Those close to him have seen Mitcham, battle depression, retire in his teenage years after physical and emotional burn-out, then nine months later resume his sport and build himself into the champion he is today. One person who has been by his side for the entire tumultuous journey is his partner, Lachlan. Months out from the Games, Mitcham has taken the courageous step of revealing his sexuality to the media for the first time, in an exclusive interview with the Herald. "It was a break for me to explore myself and get familiar with who I really was and to be happy with who I really was. Just being a happier person really radiates into other areas of your life," he said. He has also applied for a grant through a Johnson & Johnson Athlete Family Support Program to have Lachlan near him in Beijing. "We can't afford for Lachlan to go at the moment," Mitcham said. "But Johnson & Johnson offer grants to go to Beijing and I've nominated Lachlan as the support person I want to go.



Source Sydney Morning Herald