World Champion is youngest guy ever to win this big award
Dennis Gonzalez and his swimming partner won a big Chicote Award in Spain, and Gonzalez said they're the youngest winners ever. The post World Champion is youngest guy ever to win this big award appeared first on Outsports.
Mark
Dennis Gonzalez Boneu is on a roll. The artistic swimming competitor for Spain has, along with his partner Iris Tió, won a gold medal at the World Championships earlier this year in the mixed duet free category.
With the rest of his Spain teammates, he was part of the bronze medal team at the same World Championships, and he won two others as well.
About 18 months ago, Gonzalez had made the decision to not pursue a spot at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. Paris was the first time men were allowed to compete in the competition, yet he said he wanted to take some time, refine his craft and aim for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
That move has been paying off.
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Artistic swimming champ Dennis Gonzalez claps back at the anti gay jerks in his social media feed
Dennis Gonzalez has had enough of the rampant homophobia he faces as a man competing in artistic swimming.
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Now he and Tió have been awarded a cool recognition in Spain, given the coveted Chicote Museum Award for sports in 2025.
“Here we are at the Chicote Awards, not some random awards, and with people who welcome you like home,” he wrote on Instagram. While Americans may not have heard of the Chicote Awards, they are prestigious in Spain.
(@dennisgonzalez.04)He also dropped some insight into the significance of the two of them being given the sports award.
“I am very grateful that we have been the youngest awardees to date of these awards and for giving visibility and value to sports like ours!!
For athletes in a sport like artistic swimming to get any kind of award over athletes in sports that are far more popular — soccer and basketball come to mind — really is a cool honor. Though as men emerge into the sport, intrigue is building.
While the assumption by many is that Gonzalez is gay, we don’t know that he’s ever publicly acknowledged that in the media or social media. Either way, he has been the target of homophobia over the years. Men in “artistic” sports like figure skating, gymnastics and, yes, artistic swimming are going to be. Gonzalez has spoken up against that.
Regardless, he’s going to be an athlete Outsports is watching in the coming years leading up to the next Summer Olympics.
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The post World Champion is youngest guy ever to win this big award appeared first on Outsports.
