the video has his mom and his partner

Mitcham's pulled off a stunning final dive in the 10 metre platform, scoring an incredible four perfect 10s, to steal the gold off favourite Chinese diver Luxin Zhou. Mitcham finished with 537.95 points. It was a massive upset defeating the premiere and form Chinese divers Liang Huo and Luxin Zhou in front fierce home crowd.

Mitcham, 20, battled depression, retired in his teenage years after physical and emotional burn-out, then just nine months later resumed his sport in 2007. Last night his triumphant return to the sport was crowned with gold. His coach Chava Sobrino, who encouraged Mitcham back into the sport, elatedly embraced diver and Mitcham broke down in tears.

It was late 2006 that Mitcham lost passion for diving and suffering depression he quit. During his hiatus from the sport last year to make money he plunged from a tower 14 metres high into a pool of water for crowds at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney. That job reignited his passion for the sport.

One person who has been by his side for the entire tumultuous and now brilliant journey is his partner, Lachlan, he was in the crowd last night courtesy of a Johnson & Johnson Olympic sponsorship. Mitcham is one of only a few "out" gay athletes in Beijing and the first Australian to openly declare his homosexuality going into an Olympics.

he's brilliant!

I saw his performance, it was amazing.

Fun to see how he kissed his mom and rubbed his forehead on his bf's chest on cam. LOL.

Gays rub heads.

HamsterHuey said:

his bf is a foot taller

ehuffnsd said:

I noticed! His aussie accent was so cute, esp when he said 'like...'

Anyways. The showed his performance and his reaction to his winning without any comments of him of being gay. It's about the sport; the presenters were really happy for him. His reaction was touching. It was like Pieter van de Hoogenband's reaction to Maarten van der Weiden's gold.

28 y/o Maarten van der Weiden battled cancer succesfully, then competed in the 10 kilometer and won gold. Previous gold winner Pieter van de Hoogenband was commentator on for television, but TOTALLY lost it when he saw Maarten win. He started shouting incoherently, then ran away from his booth to embrace Maarten as he came out of the water. Real touching as well. One for the books.

HamsterHuey said:

what is more impressive is his sponsors paid for his partner to watch the games in China

ehuffnsd said:

well imagine if they hadn't! the media would have been all over it (and rightly so)

Cool and his boyfriend's hot!!

I love how he always two handed waved at the camera. Cute kid. N bloody brilliant performance.

His gold medal dive was absolutely STUNNING

I was very impressed!

I ddn't see this, not having paid much attention to the Games this year. (I'm in pre-protest mode for the Vancouver Olympics )

Good to hear the media didn't make a big deal out of the gay thing though. The most effective way to achieve positive visibility is, IMO, to not be a thing of notice. When being gay's portrayed as just another detail like having blue eyes or size 12 feet or whatever, then it's harder for those who would oppose to pick something to whine about.
[Edited 8/25/08 0:35am]

I don't see why this is special, or more special than any other Olympic achievement by other participants.....straight or gay! I don't see the big deal!

abierman said:

The big deal is that each time this person did a dive, he,like every other, diver raised the bar. N which each rotation he got better and better, to the point where he did a dive that got him the gold for Auzzie.

OH he fuckin got the GOLD.

beside that i

kinda like in berlin when certain people raised a fist.

lazycrockett said:

Well, that's good! But why does his homosexuality have to be an issue??

I don't get your Berlin-comment.....

abierman said:

Answer A) It's impressive cuz most gay sports people are forced to stay IN the closet due to dumb-ass prejudice. If they come out, they are pestered by audiences (think soccer) or their own team/club. It's impressive cuz a young gay decided to flip a finger to prejudice AND win at the same time.
Also, most participating countries have laws against homosexuality. Visibility at the Olymics raises awareness, maybe in small amounts, but I hope that it gives young gay people a good self-image, instead of being piinpointed as freaks or/and victims.

Answer B) Awareness is what's being hinted at, I suppose. In the latest Berlin games there was a group of African Americans that raised a fist, which is a sign of the Black Panthers. They made a point of America's double standards concerning race and were proud to show allegiance to a group of, let's be honest, extremists, that did not shun violence and was communist-friendly in a time when it was not cool to be a communist in the States.

Some topics are an issue, even if it's not an issue with you. I like the way you judge all people on their results, which is a good, but it's never wrong to celebrate something when it's extra-special, even if it's just a small group of people.

HamsterHuey said:

PS, even if I do not condone violence myself, without it, some of the results of the slow progression of equality would never have been achieved.

HamsterHuey said:

PSPS I am not saying I want gays to take up arms, just the uniforms, awright?

I'm genuinely happy for Mitcham, but honestly I don't think he'd have taken the gold if the leading Chinese diver hadn't majorly screwed up in the final round.

HamsterHuey said:

I'd have enjoyed seeing that. I can't find that footage online.

Lammastide said:

Olympics act as uptight with material as Prince. Typical.

Lammastide said:

True BUT that last dive the Mitcham did was deserving. It would've been pretty close.

I was soooo excited and surprised as he was as I watched. Woohooo!!!

HamsterHuey said:

This is not true and you know it. It is safe to say that there is a percentage of gay sporters participating in the Games. Fact is that for the Games, it is not important whether they are gay or straight, that has no effect on their performance. Obviously we are talking about western developped countries rather than i.e. Iran.
What makes this young man special is that he has won gold, he achieved that through years of hard training rather than him being gay. He just as well could have been straight!

HamsterHuey said:

Y'all should get your facts straight:




This was in Mexico City 1968, rather than Berlin (which was in 1936)! The raised fist is NOT the sign for the Black Panthers, it stands for black power which is something else.
In Berlin, African-American Jesse Owens outran everybody in Hitler's Germany.
[Edited 8/25/08 11:54am]

Congratulations to him!!

Sexual orientation is not why he won a gold medal. Non sexual Athletic skill.

Definitely performance in the event or performance of his fellow competitors.

Congratulations to him and all medals winners and competitors. In Beijing 2008

abierman said:

Oh Jessie Owens. I read about that. That was hard. Check out the Nazi salute to the right.