Team LGBTQ Show Out as 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games Wrap

The Paralympics have come to a close in Tokyo, with the out athletes competing (and unofficially included in “Team LGBTQ” by fans) and making the world, and their LGBTQ community, proud with their collective performance and medals.

As for the United States: Out Monique Matthews was on the squad that earned America a gold metal in sitting volleyball. Out goalball player Asya Miller won a silver medal with Team USA, out triathlete Hailey Danz also won silver, and Kaitlyn Eaton and Courtney Ryan were two more, out athletes that helped secure the bronze for Team USA in wheelchair basketball.

There were are least 20 other out LGBTQ competitors who earned medals in competition, according to Outsports.

This year’s Paralympics and Olympic Games boasted record numbers for out, LGBTQ athletes, along with some of the first trans and nonbinary competitors (and medal winners). The latest count for the Paralympics saw 36, out athletes at the close of the games, triple the number recorded at the last Paralympics, with 12 known, out athletes.

The U.S. and United Kingdom both had the most out athletes, with nine each. Brazil had six, Canada had three, and Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands each had two out athletes on their squads. Ireland, Israel, and Mexico all had one out athlete each. The games, like the Olympic Games, were postponed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, though they are still officially referred to as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

The games took place from August 24 to September 5, 2021, with 539 different sporting events, and Team LGBTQ surely showed what they are made of, not just at these games but at the preceding Olympics, too.

Robyn Lambird was a standout, becoming the first openly nonbinary athlete to win a Paralympics medal, taking home bronze in the 100-meter T34 wheelchair sprint August 29. “I just want to show all the kids out there—with disabilities or not—if you have a dream, chase it. There’s always a way, and you can find that way,” they say.

Otherwise, with the exception of Great Britain’s Lee Pearson—an 11-time gold medalist in para-equestrian sports—all the out athletes at the games were women.

Following the games, we now look forward to the 2022 Winter Olympics, which are suddenly just around the corner, taking place in six months in Beijing, and the Paris Summer Olympics in 2024. If this collection of athletes is any indication, we can likely expect those upcoming games to boast their own Team LGBTQ to collectively support from home.