Tokyo has three times as many out LGBTQ+ athletes as Rio had, but activists say there is ‘still a way to go’
When, still damp from the pool after winning his long-awaited gold medal, British diver Tom Daley declared his pride at being a gay man and also an Olympic champion, there were tears and full hearts across the nation.
And while there was little shock – Daley has been a vocal advocate of LGBTQ+ rights for years – there was a joy and ease to his pronouncement that was new. With more publicly out athletes in these Olympics than in all other Games combined, Tokyo 2020 is being hailed as the Rainbow Olympics, with LGBTQ+ rights campaigners hoping its message of positive inclusivity can have a lasting, global impact.
