Why are the olympics gay

And coach is A whole genre of Greek crockery -- hundreds of surviving pieces -- is devoted to portraits of young athletes, possibly commissioned by their male lovers, with a single word: kalos beautiful. Dear President Putin,. There's one in particular -- young athlete, older coach.

The world will tune in to see how it plays out. News flash: Hercules was no slouch in the same-sex love department himself. I hate to break it to you, Vlad. I'm not talking figure skating, or the two-man luge. Yes, former comrade, we know you're not ashamed to show us your bared torso on horseback.

Nothing queer about that, you say? I'm talking about the great Olympics of the ancient Greeks, that flashpoint of the civilized world that burned for a thousand years. You'll note first off that the Great Olympic tradition would look to your modern eyes The spectators -- all male.

Take a seat in the stands, Vlad. Waddell wanted to call his event the “Gay Olympics” to help break down stereotypes and promote inclusion in sports but was thwarted by a lawsuit filed by the International Olympic Committee. Or will human rights make a comeback, busting open your Olympic-sized closet?

Will it be a win for your cynical scapegoating of minority sexualities? How do we know? Take a look at the vases. Six years after the first Gay Games, equestrian Robert Dover became the first openly gay athlete to compete in the modern Olympics. Portraits of athletes range from stately art to strictly NSFW.

That god would stand right beside a statue of Heracles, the patron of athletes. The Greeks found athletics sexy. It was gayer than you could possibly imagine. Poetry about Olympic athletes got decidedly queer. The acceptance among athletes from the Gay Games is said to have crossed over into the Olympics; also including non-Olympic LGBT+ athletes, the Gay Games showed the world and Olympic movement that there are significant numbers of queer people in sport.

In the Olympic victory poem for Hagesidamos -- boxing champ of the BCE games -- the author compares his beauty to Ganymede, Zeus' male lover. Many gyms proudly boasted a statue of the god Eros -- Eros being the god of classical sexytime. But the Olympics were not a coy flash of alpha-male pectorals.

And btw, not bad for a middle-aged straight guy. There's a sponge and oil scraper in the background, placing them squarely in the locker room. Fun fact: We get our word "gym" from gymnos , which means naked. Paris will feature more openly LGBTQ+ athletes competing in the Olympic Games than ever—but there's still progress to be made in terms of trans inclusion.

Olympic gold medalist Bruce Hayes came out publicly while. Olympian Elegiae 2. The athletes -- all male, oiled up and totally in the buff. You've made a poor choice of venue for this one, because the Olympics are really, really gay.