This out LGBTQ athlete just won their country’s first gold medal at the Paris Olympics
It's the first medal at the Olympics for this out LGBTQ athlete, who hadn't won a medal at even the World Championships in almost a decade. The post This out LGBTQ athlete just won their country’s first gold medal at the Paris Olympics appeared first on Outsports.
Lara Vadlau finally has her Olympic medal, and it’s gold.
The sailor from Austria isn’t new to the Olympics, but she has finally made her debut on the medal podium. She and partner Lukas Maehr won the mixed dinghy event in Paris on Thursday. It was also Austria’s first gold medal of these Paris Olympics, and only the country’s second medal.
Vadlau isn’t new to the medal podium. In the individual 470 class, she took a gold or silver at the World Championships each year from 2013 to 2015. Yet it was the mixed-gender competition that finally put her atop the medal podium.
Vadlau is part of Outsports’ Team LGBTQ at the Paris Games. She is in a long-term romantic relationship with fellow Olympian and German soccer player Lea Schuller.
Germany and Schuller play for the bronze medal in the women’s soccer tournament on Friday, taking on the champions at the Tokyo Olympics, Spain.
The women haven’t been too shy sharing photos.
Vadlau had competed in at least a couple Olympic Games, including 2012 and 2016. However, she failed to medal in any of those.
Now she is an Olympic champion.
Your Mixed Dinghy Olympic champions 
#Paris2024Sailing #Paris2024 #Sailing #Olympics #MixedDinghy pic.twitter.com/Hn9h7fdJsG— World Sailing 
(@worldsailing) August 8, 2024
The post This out LGBTQ athlete just won their country’s first gold medal at the Paris Olympics appeared first on Outsports.
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