Team LGBT
EIGHT OF THE 44 LGBT+ ATHLETES AT THE RIO OLYMPICS REPRESENTED TEAM GB — THAT WAS MORE THAN ANY OTHER NATION. SEVEN TOOK HOME MEDALS BUT ALL WERE WINNERS IN OUR EYES
WORDS: CHRIS GODFREY MAIN PHOTOGRAPH: JENNY BROUGH FASHION: JOSEPH KOCHARIAN
ACTIVE AWARD
‘ON OUR TEAM’
SUPPORTED BY JAGUAR
When Team GB returned from Rio clutching 67 medals — 27 gold, 23 silver and 17 bronze — they did so having become the first nation to improve upon a medal haul four years after hosting the Games (up from the 65 won in London in 2012). It was the fifth successive games that they’d increased their tally and the first time they’d finished second overall in the medal table, breaking three world records in the process.
Put plainly: they smashed it.
Athletic prowess aside though, Team GB also had the most openly LGBT+ Olympians competing in Rio, with eight of 44 out athletes competing under the Union flag. Seven of the eight won medals. Four left as Olympic champions.
There simply could be no other candidates for our Active Award.
And two of the LGBT+ contingent made history with more than just their medals. Helen Richardson-Walsh and Kate Richardson-Walsh were not only part of the team that secured a historic first gold in the women’s field hockey, they were also the first married gay couple to share an Olympic podium.
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If the bronze medal they secured in London four years ago was enough to see their names written into the annals of British hockey, the gold at Rio will surely see them cement their place as legends of the game.