Snowing out #LGBT #sport

Well there is snow in the air and the winter sports season is upon us once more, or course earlier in the year we had the Winter Olympics in Sochi under the anti-LGBT administration of Russia. At the time I pointed out the few LGB Winter Olympians that were present.

However, one we didn't know about actually won a medal.

Radford with partner Meagan Duhamel in Sochi

Canadian pairs skater Eric Radford (right) has recently come out as gay, or in his words the ultimate pairs boy as there is no danger of him forming an off-ice relationship with his partner. He told Out magazine:

"My concern was that I would be known as 'the gay athlete' if I came out at the Olympics, rather than 'Eric the medalling figure skater who happens to be gay'. And I felt uncomfortable with that title."

The guy is a strong competitor, during the short programme of the 2011 World he finished a routine with blood pouring from his nose after his partner Meagan Duhamel's elbow coming in contact with him. This was from here descent from a twist the first element in the routine. Despite his nose being broken he took part the following day in the free programme and the pair finished 7th.  He and Duhamel have apparently been practising a quad thrown Salchow to unleash this year to improve on their bronze medal in the last two World Championships.

His coming out adds a silver to the medal tally of team LGB from Sochi adding to the 2 golds (one for team) and 3 silvers of Ireen Wüst (NED) in speed skating.

Meanwhile elsewhere in the world of Winter Sport Australia have added a gay man to their bobsleigh team. Rugby player Simon Dunn is currently in Calgary training with the upcoming season and hoping to make the team for 2018 in South Korea.

He told SameSame:

"I love competing in bobsleigh. The adrenaline rush. Using my strengths from rugby and excelling in a different sport. I love representing my country. And I'm also proud of the fact that I'm the first out gay man in the sport to do so!"

He has even been spotted post pictures of himself in his skin suit (see left). Though I think it would be best if he did it up when competing not just to save the poor guy from an awful chill but also to enhance the aerodynamics.

Of course the cross over from running events to bobsleigh is not new as many teams search other sports for the explosive athletes that can give the push off the start blocks that are so important for sliding events.

The 'Unluck' for Irish Sport May Continue

The luck of the Irish appears in somewhat short supply for the quadrennial events that are happening in 2010.

First we had the hand of Gaul which lead to the late goal that denied Ireland from going to Johannesburg for FIFA's World Cup. While the Swedish Referee Martin Hannson who failed to see Thierry Henry palming the ball twice to get it to his team mate William Gallas from that winning 'goal' will be on a South African bound flight.

Now the Irish women's Bobsleigh team who are in Vancouver waiting and expecting to compete in the 2 woman event are now waiting to hear what the IOC decide on their fate. There are twenty women's pairs competing at the Olympics and Ireland duo, Aoife Hoey and Claire Bergin, are ranked 20th in the World, but the Australian team, Astrid Loch-Wilkinson and Cecilia McIntosh, went to the Court of Arbitration in Sport (Cas) to point out that the governing body, International Bobsleigh & Tobogganing Federation (FIBT), failed to properly apply its regional qualification system by omitting a team from Oceania.

Yesterday Cas said FIBT had wrongly applied the criteria by saying that Ireland rather than Australia had qualified. However, they also 'strongly recommended' the inclusion of the Irish bob. That decision however now is in the hands (pardon the pun) of the International Olympic Committee and the local organisers Vanoc.

The Statement from Cas reads:

"The Cas panel found the clear wording of the qualification system implemented by the FIBT reflected the intention of representation by one men's bob team and one women's bob team from non-represented continents and could not be interpreted otherwise than as formulated.

"Accordingly, the application of the AOC (Australian Olympic Committee) was granted and the FIBT was ordered to allocate a continental representation quota place to the AOC for participation of the pilot Astrid Loch-Wilkinson in the two-man women's bob event in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

"Nevertheless, considering the situation of the Irish athletes, who expected legitimately to be entitled to participate in the Olympic Winter Games 2010 after their entry had been validated by the FIBT and the IOC, the Cas Panel has recommended to the IOC and Vanoc the inclusion of a 21st team in the women's bobsleigh event which is scheduled for 23 February 2010."