At 29, American gymnast Daniel Leiba revealed that he was gay, and broke the net • "It was a little scary," he admitted, "wanting to live in a world where sexual identity doesn't really matter"
Leiba.
"I got a lot of support"
Photography:
From Instagram
Daniel Leiba did not think his exit from the closet in 2020 would provoke such a commotion.
The American gymnast of Cuban descent, who holds two Mario Olympic silver medals and another bronze from London 2012, gave himself a kind of 29th birthday present when he chose to announce to the world that he is gay.
Leiba was interviewed by the International Olympic Channel and told of his feelings: "I want to live in a world where sexual identity does not really matter, as it does not matter if you write with your right hand or left hand, and the only way this is achieved is when things become normal and part of society."
Leiba is the most senior Olympic athlete of the last generation coming out of the closet, probably on the American gymnastics team.
Although many of the gymnasts are straight, the gymnastics industry is generally labeled as a branch of homosexual control, which Leiba notes has influenced him more than once, as he has always been judged in the context of the sport he chose to engage in.
"I have not yet decided exactly what my sexual identity is," Leiba said. .
In the past, two senior gymnasts on the American team, John Dixon and Paul Roger, have revealed that they are outspoken homosexuals and have made it clear that "they will be happy to be the first gays on the American gymnastics team."
They failed to meet the Olympic criteria and continued to exercise in colleges, but it turns out that at that time there was already one gay gymnast on the team, who during his career did not have the necessary strength, as he admitted, to come out of the closet.
It should be noted that this is mainly related to the conservative American society when it comes to sports, and that in European Olympic teams, male and female athletes come out of the closet much more frequently.
And in Israel?
Just like in American society, here too the sport is perceived as a bastion of conservatism, and athletes with a brown skin tone are still sent to eat bananas by senior commentators.