Record 41 out LGBTQ athletes to compete in 2026 Milan Winter Olympics
Team LGBTQ will be the biggest ever for a Winter Olympics, as at least 41 out athletes are competing for gold in Milan. The post Record 41 out LGBTQ athletes to compete in 2026 Milan Winter Olympics appeared first on Outsports.
Mark
There will be at least 41 publicly out gay, lesbian, bi and queer athletes competing at the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics starting Feb. 6, a record for the Winter Games.
Team LGBTQ’s total includes eight American athletes, about 3% of Team USA, with seven women and one man (speedskater Conor McDermott-Mostowy). Amber Glenn, a top American hope for a figure skating medal, is the first publicly out LGBTQ women’s figure skater in Olympic history.
There are 33 out women and 8 out men, a 4-1 ratio, lower than the 9-1 ratio for the Summer Games, in part because there are fewer winter team sports, where out women are common. In Milan, there will be 22 out ice hockey players, all women, making it by far the sport with the most LGBTQ athletes.
You can see the list of out LGBTQ Winter Olympians here.
The one major sport where out male athletes outnumber women is figure skating, with Milan having at least five men and one woman. Other sports represented by out athletes are skiing (both alpine and freestyle) with five; skeleton, two; and one each from snowboarding, curling and biathlon.
As of the initial publication of Outsports’ list, at least 13 countries are represented on Team LGBTQ at these Winter Olympics.
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The number of out athletes continues a trend at the Olympics, both Winter and Summer. There were 36 out Olympians at the 2022 Winter Games, 15 in 2018 and seven in 2014, which means there has been a sixfold increase in 12 years. The 2024 Paris Summer Games also saw a record, with 199 out athletes competing.
Desire for LGBTQ visibility at the Winter Olympics
Out Olympians say visibility and the desire to be themselves and not have to hide are reasons for coming out.
“I’ve always been physically capable. That was never a question,” Glenn told Outsports. “It was always a mental and competence problem. It was internal battles for so long: when to lean into my strengths and when to work on my weaknesses, when to finally let myself portray the way I am off the ice on the ice. That really started when I came out publicly.”
U.S. speedskater McDermott-Mostowy had never hid being gay from his competitors, but he was also not the type to wave a rainbow flag or discuss it publicly, until 2021. One impetus was to dispel the myth that gay men were incapable to being good at sports.
“I think I’ve kind of always had that at the back of my mind,” said when he came out publicly. “I don’t want to talk about being gay, because there’s a stereotype that gay guys aren’t athletic, and I don’t want that to be held against me or used to justify a bad result. I’ve been uncomfortable with that. But I feel like at this point, no one can say anything.”
After an untimely illness in not making Team USA in 2022, McDermott-Mostowy shined at this month’s Olympic trials and earned his first berth. “Mission accomplished,” U.S. Speedskating said after he secured a spot.
For French figure skater Kevin Aymoz, coming out as gay was a healing process.
“When I first came out, I had put a bandage on a wound,” he said. “But now … talking about it publicly and freeing myself gave me the opportunity to remove that bandage and to let the wound breathe. And there’s no wound anymore. It was over. It made me feel good. And if it helped other people, it helps me feel better too.”
List of out LGBTQ athletes at Milan Olympics expected to grow
We expect the final tally for Milan to grow, since this has happened at every recent Games after Outsports published its initial lisat. While almost all male athletes come out in a public way via the media (because of how few of them there are), many women are out on social media, flying under the media radar. Add in language barriers, and it’s easy to initially overlook an obvious out athlete.
One way we compile the list is to search the social media profiles for dozens of athletes, looking for obvious clues as to them being LGBTQ, and then contacting them to verify.
One example is French hockey player Lore Baudrit, who had an adorable photo of her son, Sacha, with a shared link to Marion Allemoz, a retired French hockey player. We contacted Baudrit to as whether Allemoz is her wife and she confirmed it.
We know we likely have missed some out athletes, especially those who are non-Americans, as Outsports is based in the United States. If you know of an out LGBTQ athlete not on the list, or have any other inquiry, please contact us via email (team@outsports.com), or direct message us on Twitter/X (@outsports), Instagram (@outsports) or Facebook (OutsportsSBN).
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The post Record 41 out LGBTQ athletes to compete in 2026 Milan Winter Olympics appeared first on Outsports.
