Record-Breaking Rainbow Brigade: Australia and New Zealand Shine at Paris Olympics

Australia and New Zealand will be represented by 29 rainbow athletes at the Paris Olympic Games over the next 16 days which will break a record for the number of out male Olympic athletes.

Overall there will be 193 out athletes from 25 different countries in this year’s games.

Team Australia will launch into the opening ceremony on Saturday morning with 22 out gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and nonbinary Olympians. Across the Tasman, New Zealand will be represented by seven out rainbow athletes including Robbie Manson who will head into his fourth Olympic Games.

Joining Manson for the Kiwis will be Clarke Johnstone in Equestrian, Emma Twigg(Rowing), Portia Woodman-Wickliffe(Rugby). Meikayla Moore, Annalie Longo and Michaela Foster are playing for the Football Ferns in Women’s Soccer.

Twigg will be competing in her fifth Olympics and her second games since coming out publicly at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.

For Australia, the standout sports are Soccer and Basketball with 13 of the 18 athletes competing in either of those two sports.

The highly fancied Matildas will have 12 out rainbow athletes in the team. World Cup stars Mackenzie Arnold, Cortnee Vine, Caitlin Foord, Alanna Kennedy, Hayley Raso and Katrina Gorry will be joined by legend Michelle Heyman, Tameka Yallop, Emily van Egmond, Ellie Carpenter, Teagan Micah and Sharn Freier.

For the first time, 3×3 Basketball will be played in Paris and two of the stars Anneli Maley and Marena Whittle will lead the way for Australia and are also a couple off the field. They are also joined by Ally Wilson in 3×3 Basketball. Samantha Whitcomb and Amy Atwell are also out and proud playing for the Opals, the Australian women’s basketball team.

 

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Marissa Williamson Pohlman will compete in Boxing, Natalya Diehm in BMX Freestyle, Sharni Smale(Rugby) and Tyler Wright in Surfing.

One of Australia’s biggest chances will be openly gay Australia rock climber Campbell Harrison who is the country’s number one ranked climber.

The 2024 Paris Games marks a significant increase in LGBTQ representation, highlighting the progress towards inclusivity and acceptance in the sports world.

We look forward to celebrating all of their successes and fun over the next two weeks.

*We appreciate the efforts of the team from Outsports for creating a 2024 Olympics database of all out athletes in Paris for assistance with this piece.

Last Updated on Aug 16, 2024