Every Olympic Athlete Deserves Recognition

Each Olympic cycle brings media attention to a select few ‘celebrity’ Olympic athletes while many others may be left standing in the shadows thinking “so what, I’m just chopped liver?” In the current 2024 Olympic Games, a few rowers are getting an outsized attention because they are “out.” There are other media articles extolling the huge number of out athletes in the 2024 cycle. Even more articles suggest that one “out” athlete on the team was responsible for bringing home gold for his/her team. Presumably, we should give those athletes more recognition and admiration. Hmmm, we are confused. If it is a team event, doesn’t that require the participation and talent of all the team members?

The reality is that every rower who is at the 2024 Olympics deserves our utmost respect and admiration for the huge personal sacrifice he/she has made in their career, in their personal lives, in their ability to achieve homeownership, and in their financial and savings goals. We haven’t even discussed the hours and hours of training and physical preparation, and just as important, the mental toll it takes on every athlete to keep going day in and day out, especially when it doesn’t seem like they are making much progress in their skill or their erg or race times.

From the perspective of the rowing community, every rower has had to be on the water two or three times a day for months, and that isn’t in beautiful cool weather with mirror like water. Then there are the brutal erg sessions that leave you heaving on the floor, and then there’s the weight room. We can’t begin to scratch the surface at what is involved in training for Olympic selection and then afterwards, the intense final stretch in preparation for the Olympics.

For the 2024 Olympics, rowing has entries from 65 countries and one AIN. The total number of entries, male and female, comes to 492. That number doesn’t take into account the team alternates that some countries can afford (in manpower and cost). These alternates have had to train just as hard and even more difficult, they have to watch on the sidelines while their teammates are in the boats.

In the 1990’s, a common statistical measure was that ten percent of the population is gay. Now, new demographic statistical data indicates that 1.2 to 6.8 percent of the population is LGBTQ. It is our perception that the percent of LGBTQ athletes in rowing is much higher, closer to 15 percent. Why? Rowing is a non-contact sport where everyone sits in a separate seat but works as a team to add speed to the boat. This makes an attractive setting for an LGBTQ youth or adult who perhaps feels more comfortable competing in isolation.

If you add a comfortable and conservative estimate of 20 alternate athletes, the total number of rowers at the 2024 Olympics comes to 512. If only 5 percent of those athletes are LGBTQ, that comes to 26, rounding up. At 10 percent, the number is 51, rounding down. At 15 percent, the number is 77, rounding up.

There can be many reasons why an athlete does not want to reveal their sexual orientation. Some don’t think it is important, others may face team expulsion or harassment or isolation (even in 2024), some may worry about their employment prospects (either in the rowing community or in the corporate world), and then there are those whose private lives and family issues make it better to keep it hidden.

The LGBTQ media is heralding the nine out rowers at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Let’s make sure the all the other LGBTQ rowers get just as much admiration and respect. We are sure that even though it never made headlines, 2024 is not the first time an LGBTQ rower has medaled at the Olympics. While you’re doling out the respect and admiration to the Olympic rowers, let’s do so for all of them. After all, they are our teammates!