Men Out Gay athletes in the NCAA

[OnoNoKomachi]

Two out gay gymnasts shine at NCAA Championships with All-American honors - Outsports

Two out gay athletes took home top-4 finishes at the NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships, with one on the bronze-medal team.

www.outsports.com

 

[irichluck21]

 

[OnoNoKomachi]

Here is another one - Cooper Kim of Stanford.

Stanford gymnast Cooper Kim won NCAA titles, comes out as gay - Outsports

Cooper Kim won the NCAA national title in the floor exercise, and the team event with Stanford. He now comes out publicly as gay.

www.outsports.com

 

[RichardL]

It was a gorgeous routine too. I suspected he was gay at 0:34, but then the flare out of the double pike dismount sealed the deal.

 

[Denn]

The double twisting jump to prone should be a C, not a B. It's hard to do with control.

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

He’s a pretty good beamer, too!

 

[irichluck21]

aren't men's leaps and jumps capped at a B?

 

[Sasha]

How welcoming an environment is MAG to gay men? I know the fanship leans pretty gay, but I don't know what things are like in the gym.

 

[RichardL]

How welcoming an environment is MAG to gay men? I know the fanship leans pretty gay, but I don't know what things are like in the gym.

I'm heartened that their teammates in these videos at least seem universally supportive

 

[irichluck21]

These days it is much more accepted and most guys are fine with it.

 

[Denn]

aren't men's leaps and jumps capped at a B?

I haven't looked at what they added back in after removing them some years ago, but no. Butterfly double full was a C and so was jump 2.5 twist to prone.

 

[Denn]

How welcoming an environment is MAG to gay men? I know the fanship leans pretty gay, but I don't know what things are like in the gym.

I think most college teams are fine. For years now, several teams have had an out teammate or two.

 

[irichluck21]

Before Minnesota cut their team Larsen was one of 3 out athletes, they called themselves the PowerPuff Girls and did videos with their teammates. If you look at their IG accounts, there are plenty of pictures with them with their teammates at what don't appear to be official team outings.

Even back in late 90s-00s I was out at my university, granted I was not on the swim team because it was cut before my freshman year but I didn't have any problems. When I became a RA, I was very much out and had plenty of male, straight friends who didn't have a problem with it. One of my best friends is straight and married to a woman with kids now and we still keep in touch.

Can't compare with every school though. I do remember when Graham Ackerman came out when he was in the NCAA. There are several athletes that are out to their teammates but might not be out publicly.

 

[RichardL]

Graham Ackerman used to post on GGMB as well. One of my first internet crushes!

Graham Ackerman - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia

Graham Ackerman (born July 14, 1983 in Seattle, Washington) is an American gymnast. In April 2005 he won the national championship in the floor exercise event at the 2005 NCAA Men's Gymnastics championship at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, making him a threetime nationa

alchetron.com

 

[irichluck21]

Mine too!

 

[Sasha]

Thanks folks. Sounds encouraging. I was randomly thinking about hockey culture yesterday and then came across an update to this thread; it made me wonder.

 

[OnoNoKomachi]

Now it's OK. There have been out gays at Oklahoma - more than one. I don't think they had any trouble. I doubt Mark Williams would tolerate anyone being bullied for being gay.

It wasn't always this way.

There was one NCAA coach whom I heard told people if they came out, he would kick them off the team. That was a generation ago.

 

[Denn]

I updated the thread title to reflect that it's not just 2 athletes we're talking about in this thread, but a trend.