LGBTQ+ Paralympians set to make an impact at Paris 2024
For those of us lost for something to do now that the Olympics have ended, fear not, the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will be hitting our screens later this month.
At least 175 out queer athletes competed in the Paris Olympics, with Team LGBTQ+ winning a total of 43 medals, and ending the games in 7th place.
Team LGBTQ+ didn’t just win medals: athletes from Sha’Carri Richardson to Tom Daley cemented themselves as fan-favourites and queer legends.
But who is on Team LGBTQ+ for the Paralympic games this year? An estimated 27 out LGBTQ+ athletes will be vying for medals, with seven queer athletes confirmed in Team GB.
Read on to meet just a few of the main stars going for gold in Paris.
Emma Wiggs, Great Britain, canoe
Emma Wiggs is a paracanoeist on Team GB, winning gold at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio in the KL2 category, and gold and silver in the VL2 and KL2 categories, in Tokyo three years ago.
She is also a former sitting volleyball player, having competed in the London Games in 2012.
Valentina Petrillo, Italy, track
Valentina Petrillo is set to become the first out transgender athlete to compete at the Paralympic Games, representing Italy in the women’s T12 200m and 400m for athletes with visual impairments – to the annoyance of some parts of the right-wing press.
“The historic value of being the first transgender woman to compete at the Paralympics is an important symbol of inclusion,” she told BBC Sport.
“This is not a lifestyle choice for me, this is who I am.”
Alana Maldonado, Brazil, judo
Reigning champion Alana Maldonado will be representing Brazil in the judo for the third time at the Paralympics, having won gold in the 70kg division in Tokyo in 2021, and silver at the Rio Games eight years ago.
She told Judo Inside that winning a gold medal was a “dream come true”, dedicating it to Brazil, and insisting she wouldn’t take it off until she was reunited with her girlfriend back home.
“This gold is not just mine, it’s ours. There are a lot of people behind it,” she said.
Lee Pearson, Great Britain, equestrian
Lee Pearson has won 14 Paralympic gold medals, having represented Team GB in equestrian events in Sydney, Athens, Beijing, London, Rio and Tokyo. He was the first out gay member of the British Paralympic team, and was knighted in 2017 for services to disabled sports and equestrianism.
He was praised for making a moving speech in 2021 after winning gold in Tokyo, saying that “love has to prevail, whatever shape or form”.
He said: “If you’re born with a disability, if you have a child with a disability, if you’re born with same-sex attraction, if your daughter comes out or your son, just love them. We have to embrace different people because that’s society, that’s the world. Those different people, they’re not going anywhere.”
In 2020, he became a single foster parent to a 15-year-old boy.
Kate O’Brien, Canada, cycling
Canada’s Kate O’Brien has competed in both the Olympics and Paralympics, competing in the Olympic cycling team in Rio, and, following a training accident, in Paralympics in Tokyo in 2021, where she won a silver medal in the C4–5 time trial event.
“It’s been one of the best decisions that I’ve made,” O’Brien told Cycling Magazine in 2020, referring to joining the Paralympic team. “It might be the best team I’ve been a part of, they’re extremely positive.”
She and her wife, actor Meaghan Grant, became proud moms to a son earlier this year.
Robyn Love and Laurie Williams, Great Britain, wheelchair basketball
It’s only right to mention Robyn Love and Laurie Williams together because the engaged couple are teammates on the Team GB wheelchair basketball team and had a child together in April.
Love competed as part of Team GB at the Paralympics in Rio and Tokyo, as did Williams, who also took part in the 2012 Games in London.
The Paralympics in Paris should also be a special one for the couple: they revealed they got engaged under the Eiffel Tower. They’ve been together for almost 10 years.
Lucy Shuker, Great Britain, wheelchair tennis
Lucy Shuker is a wheelchair tennis player for Team GB, and currently the highest ranked woman in the sport in Britain. She has competed in every summer Paralympic Games since 2008 in Beijing, winning a silver medal in Tokyo.
In an interview with LTA, she said she doesn’t like to publicly label her sexuality, claiming she had “fallen in love with someone [who] happens to be a woman”, but doesn’t “necessarily feel that people have to be stuck in a label”.
Hailey Danz, USA, triathlon
American triathlete Hailey Danz competed in the Rio Paralympic Games in 2016, and Tokyo 2020, winning a silver medal at both.
She came out publicly on Team USA’s website in 2021, saying: “It was by being welcomed into this community that I finally understand why Pride month has the name that it does. For the first time in my life, I’m proud to be gay.”
Katie-George Dunlevy, Ireland, cycling
Cyclist Katie-George Dunlevy has won five Paralympic medals – three gold and two silver – representing Ireland in Rio in 2016 and in Tokyo three years ago.
“If someone said to me before that I would get a medal in the pursuit, I would never have thought it in my wildest dreams. We were hoping to do a good ride and get a personal best,” she said after winning silver in Tokyo.
“To get that and a world record, I’m just speechless.”
Lauren Rowles, Team GB, rowing
Paralympic champion Lauren Rowles will represent Team GB for the third time at a Games, having won gold at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
Announcing that she would be competing in Paris, the oarswoman wrote on Instagram: “Three years ago I thought I would never go to a Paralympics again. But along the way something kept telling me my time wasn’t over yet, so I decided [to] set out on my greatest challenge yet: making this team for Paris at the time [when] I was depressed, injured and had no rowing partner.
“To say I’m proud of the work I have put in to overcome the adversity I’ve faced, is an understatement.”
Bo Kramer, The Netherlands, wheelchair basketball
Dutch star Bo Kramer, described as one of the top wheelchair basketball players in the world by the BBC, won a gold at the 2020 Paralympic Games.
Writing on the International Paralympic Committee website, she said: “My advice to other athletes who are struggling with their sexual orientation is: choose somebody you trust or you feel safe enough with to talk about your struggles. It will help to clear things in your head and hopefully you’ll come to the point of accepting and embracing yourself.
“A teammate really helped me with my struggle of ‘acceptance’ by talking a lot about her experiences and her ‘road’ of coming out. This really helped me.”
The Paris Paralympic Games take place from Wednesday 28 August until Sunday 8 September. Coverage in the UK will be on Channel 4 and More 4 as well as C4’s Sports YouTube channel.
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