PinkNews takes a look at some of the best LGBT moments from the Rio Olympic Games so far – and it’s only been a week!
1 Record Breakers
This year’s games is a truly historic, with more LGBT athletes competing than ever before.
In Beijing 2008, just 12 openly LGBT athletes competed, with Australian diver Matthew Mitcham – who went on to win gold – being the only gay man.
Eight years later, however, and there are an estimated 42 LGBT athletes set to compete in Rio.
This is nearly double the 23 openly LGBT athletes who took part in the London 2012 games.
2 Sealed with a kiss
Before the Rio games even began, we were treated to this touching moment between two Olympic torch bearers.
The unnamed couple were two of many to make an epic journey across Brazil for the 2016 games.
But amid the chaos of the relay, the couple still found time to stop and have a smooch.
3 Starting in Style
Another monumental moment came as during the games’ opening ceremony.
Trans model Lea T made history on Friday night as she literally pedalled her towards LGBT visibility.
The famed supermodel – full name Leandra Medeiros Cerezo – cycled out in Rio with the Brazilian athletes behind her.
See more images from the opening here – included a certain oiled up Tongan.
4 Wedded bliss
Helen and Kate Richardson-Walsh made history last weekend when they took the field for their first match.
The hockey players became the first married couple to play together on the same team at the Olympics.
The pair helped Great Britain achieve victory, as they won the match over Australia, 2-1.
Find out more about the amazing pair here.
5 Model Behaviour
Chris Mosier made history earlier this year as the first out transgender man to qualify for the US National Team in the duathlon.
The event consists of running and cycling events.
Though the sport isn’t part of the Olympics, he has still managed to make his way onto screens across the event – as the star of a Nike ad that has aired during Olympic coverage.
See the stunning campaign here.
6 Baring all
Out gay Olympian Amini Fonua has taken a stand at this year’s Rio game – by asking people to look at his butt to promote equality.
The 26-year-old from Rio, where he competes in his second games for Tonga, he has the words “gay and lesbian” on his swimsuit.
See the more of the trunk in hunks here.
7 Go Tom (and Dan)!
Gay diver Tom Daley – along with partner Dan Goodfellow – made Britain proud when they took home a bronze.
Daley and Goodfellow won the medal in the men’s synchronised 10m platform dives – although you’d be forgiven for thinking Daley did it alone…
Relive the amazing moment here.
8 #LoveWins
Following the first women’s rugby sevens final ever to take place at the games, Olympics history was made yet again when her girlfriend took to the pitch.
Marjorie Enya – a manager at Deodoro Stadium – grabbed a microphone, before delivering an emotional speech to her rugby player girlfriend.
“I wanted to show people that love wins,” she said.
Watch the heartwarming moment here!
9 And finally… the moment the Olympic diving pool turned green
We know this technically isn’t an LGBT story, but we couldn’t help including the biggest star of the games so far.
Although nobody knew why the pool turned green, that didn’t stop people from guessing.
Check out some the best speculation here.
Let’s hope for many more epic LGBT moments – and medals – during the rest of this year’s games!
The post 9 of the most inspiring, funny, heartwarming LGBT moments from the Rio Olympic so far appeared first on PinkNews | Latest lesbian, gay, bi and trans news | LGBTQ+ news.