US gymnastics hopeful comes out as gay ahead of Olympics
US gymnast Josh Dixon has come out during his bid to represent the US at the London Olympics this year in a move which would make him the country’s first openly gay gymnast at the competition.
Dixon finished second of seventy two in a qualifying round at Colorado Springs last week and spoke openly to OutSports.com of his sexuality.
He spoke extensively on his gymnastic career, describing it as his “number one priority, and if something got in the way of that I had to push it aside”.
OutSports.com noted that while he was able to go into detail on the sport, personal questions were “more of a struggle”.
Dixon moved into an Olympic training centre late last year but has two more rounds of competition to go through before selection to represent his country.
He described a gymnast friend coming out to him in his sophomore year at university, prompting him to come out in return. He soon began dating a fellow athlete at Stanford.
When the gymnastics team found out, Dixon said, the response was “Oh, that’s cool”.
Dixon said he had not come across homophobia “in any way, shape or form”.
He added that he did not believe coming out publicly would affect his changes of making the Olympic team.
OutSports.com noted that David Pichler and Patrick Jeffrey were openly gay US divers at the Olympics, there has not been a publicly out male or female gymnast.
