Gay gymnist

Tomás González, an Olympic gymnast from Santiago, Chile, has come out as gay in his newly-published autobiography titled Champion: Lessons, Triumphs, and Falls of an Olympic Gymnast. Two-time Olympic gymnast Danell Leyva says that, for him, stereotypes surrounding his sport may have been one of the biggest obstacles to his coming out as a member of the LGBTQ community.

Leyva admits that coming out was made even more difficult by his stubbornness and determination – traits that helped lift him to the Olympic podium three. Caitlin Rooskrantz is making Olympics history. The teenage gymnast isn’t only one of the first two women of color to represent South Africa in gymnastics. She’s also the first woman to be. USA national team gymnast Josh Dixon paved the way for acceptance in men’s gymnastics as one of the only openly gay gymnasts at his level.

Most importantly, my own teammate and Big Ten Champion, Jake Martin helped to transform the team culture at Ohio State and promote an environment of acceptance and respect. Olympic Gymnast Tomás González Comes Out In New Autobiography › 25 Steamy Pics Of Olympian Tomás González To Celebrate His Coming Out ›. When you envision a top athlete, the descriptive words that might come to mind include strength, power, masculinity and grit.

Every young athlete aspires to have these qualities. I remember the day I asked my mom to sign me up for gymnastics.

final five gymnastics

I had an obsession with backflips and was determined to learn one. Little did I know my desire to learn a backflip would soon turn into so much more. It soon became my life, my passion and the essence of who I am today. I come from a family of four, born and raised in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. I was blessed with incredible parents, my mother, a dance studio owner and my father, a musician. With the influence of an artistic family, the value of passion was always in my blood.

Growing up in one of the most difficult sports you could do, along with a rigorous training schedule was hard enough on its own. Feeling different and ashamed of who I truly was made it ten times more difficult. My high school life was consumed by gymnastics— and I had little understanding of who I was at my core outside of sport. When I came to terms with my sexuality, I suppressed my soul with all my might.

I put every ounce of my energy into gymnastics — into achieving perfection in all areas of my life. I did everything in my power to try and change who I was. Growing up in gymnastics, people were always protective of the masculinity of the sport. I remember many instances during my junior and senior year of high school, driving home after a late practice feeling a deep-set emptiness.

I struggled to see how my life could get better, or how someone like me could be accepted and someday live a life of happiness. Before I saw being gay as my gift, it first seemed like a monstrous burden. College gymnastics was always my childhood dream. The vision that one day I might compete for a division one school is what woke me up in the morning and allowed me to push forward; it gave me purpose on my darkest days.

After my very first visit to Ohio State, my heart was set. For the first time in my life, I saw an openly gay athlete on the team. I saw how valuable he was not only for his gymnastics, but for who he was as a person. I saw someone like myself who accomplished what I aimed to accomplish, and this was huge for me. My freshman year of college I was incredibly tough on myself. Not only did I feel I had to prove my value on the team as a walk-on athlete, but I also felt I had to compensate for my worth with perfectionism in school.

That year, I put all my focus into school and gymnastics and worked my heart out. I pushed the fact that I was gay to the back of my mind and distracted myself with hard work. By the middle of the season during my sophomore year I hit my rock bottom and depression consumed me.

I was stressed beyond belief with school, I was struggling to make lineup and hit my routines and on top of it all, I felt worthless at my core. I remember the next competition at Penn State I had an epiphany. I put this same energy into my gymnastics and I quickly transformed.