Dutch snowboarder Cheryl Maas made what many are hailing as the first Olympian display of solidarity with Russia's embattled LGBT community yesterday by raising her rainbow-adorned glove to a camera after competing in Sochi.
| Sat Feb. 8, 2014 3:00 AM GMT
Yesterday,
during slopestyle qualifiers at the Winter Olympics, Dutch snowboarder
Cheryl Maas became the first Olympian to act in direct opposition of
Russia's bigoted anti-gay law when she stared into a television camera and shoved a rainbow-colored unicorn glove
at the lens. In doing so, the defiant winter veteran—one of only six
openly gay competitors in Sochi—carried on a long tradition of athletes
injecting a little character and dissent into the Games, reminding us
just why we love sports to begin with.
Considering the staggering tales of mismanagement, corruption, and regional terrorist threats, here are 17 more Olympians we're hoping do the same:
THE FIVE OTHER OPENLY GAY ATHLETES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPqA36afz78&feature=player_embedded
Last year, the Indian Olympic Association was suspended on allegations of corruption. As a result, none of India's three Olympic athletes
will be allowed to compete under the Indian flag in Sochi. But luger
Shiva Keshavan is sliding anyway—and he's doing so in a multicolored,
patterned cap intended to represented his home village. Keshavan is no
stranger to fighting the odds: At 16, became the youngest luger in
history, and now competes without a coach or winter sports
infrastructure. Despite Keshavan winning gold in the 2011 and 2012 Asia
cups, acting IOA president
Vijay Kumar Malhotra insists that the Indian winter athletes don't
stand a chance of winning. Still, this will be Keshavan's fifth
Olympiad—with or without his country's official backing.
LANNY BARNES
Considering the staggering tales of mismanagement, corruption, and regional terrorist threats, here are 17 more Olympians we're hoping do the same:
THE FIVE OTHER OPENLY GAY ATHLETES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPqA36afz78&feature=player_embedded
SSA TV/Youtube
Partly because of boycotts, and partly because of Russia's anti-LGBT law, just five other gay athletes—all women—are joining Maas in openly competing in this year's Games. Four of them—Ireen Wüst (a gold-medal-winning Dutch speed skater), Sanne van Kerkhof (a Dutch short-track speedskater), Barbara Jezeršek (a
Slovenian cross-country skier), and Anatasia Bucsis (a Canadian speed
skater) are also previous Olympians. For Belle Brockhoff, an Australian
snowboarder who came out as gay specifically to protest the Russian law, Sochi is her first Olympic competition. In an interview with the BBC,
she explained: "I want to go there because I'm not afraid of these laws
and I want others that live in Russia, who are homosexuals, to see
that."
SHIVA KESHAVAN
SHIVA KESHAVAN
Imago/Zuma
LANNY BARNES
Perhaps this year's quintessential Olympic tale of selflessness,
Lanny and Tracy Barnes' story will melt the icy cockles of your cynical
heart. The twin sisters were both expected to qualify for Sochi, but
during the final round of US biathlon qualifiers, Lanny fell too ill to
compete and was forced to stay home. Tracy, though, made the cut. A week
later, Tracy sacrificed her spot so Lanny could race instead. "Love is
selfless dedication," she explained in an interview.
"Love means giving up your dream so somebody else can realize theirs."
Though they're both Olympic veterans, Tracy's withdrawal comes only four
years after barely missing the 2010 Olympics.
NORWEGIAN CURLING TEAM
NORWEGIAN CURLING TEAM
In recent years, curling has seen an unexpected and surging growth in popularity. If you tuned in to the 2010 Vancouver Games, you might recall Norway's amazing patterned pants
during its silver-medal-winning performance. In Sochi, the team will
don even more outrageous outfits: 1970s-inspired red, blue, and white zig-zag suits referencing the nation's flag. Appreciation for the team's loud sense of style even spawned a Facebook page with more than 540,000 fans—nearly as many people as live in Oslo.
YOHAN GOUTT GONCALVES
YOHAN GOUTT GONCALVES
Goncalves is the first athlete
to ever compete in the Winter Olympics for East Timor, a country that's
never seen snow. In fact, the country's annual temperature stays around
85 degrees. Competing in the ski slalom, Goncalves wants to go to Sochi as a "diplomat" to show that there is "more to East Timor than war." That's more than we can say about his mariachi-suited slalom competitor.
JAMAICAN BOBSLED TEAM
JAMAICAN BOBSLED TEAM
Published on Nov 15, 2012
At the Calgary 1988 Winter Olympics Jamaica sent an unexpected team to compete in the bobsleigh event.
Though their participation did not end in medal glory, the team won the hearts of their fans and competitors, returning to future games as equals.
The Jamaican athletes were - nonetheless - determined to excel at the Games and had their fastest start so far in their final run. However, during the run, the sled crashed in one of the turns which took away the teams possibility of an officially recorded time.
Though their participation did not end in medal glory, the team won the hearts of their fans and competitors, returning to future games as equals.
The Jamaican athletes were - nonetheless - determined to excel at the Games and had their fastest start so far in their final run. However, during the run, the sled crashed in one of the turns which took away the teams possibility of an officially recorded time.
Olympics/Youtube
Heading to the Winter Olympics for the first time in more than a decade, the Jamaican bobsled team has fans hoping for Cool Runnings 2.0. Jamaica's inaugural bobsled run, in the 1988 Calgary Olympics, ended in a disastrous crash. Upon arriving in Sochi, the team was further hindered as a result of the airport temporarily losing the competitors' clothes and equipment. Still, 12 years since their last appearance, and crowd-funded by more than $184,000, the two-man team is looking for redemption.
US WOMEN'S SKI JUMPING TEAM
US WOMEN'S SKI JUMPING TEAM
2014 marks the first year women's ski jumping will be an Olympic event, with advocacy by American Lindsay Van largely responsible for bringing it there. In an interview on Rock Center With Brian Williams,
Van explained how sexism kept the event out of the Olympics for years.
(In 2006, International Ski Federation President Gian Franco Kasper
said, "It's like jumping down from, let's say, about two meters on the
ground about a thousand times a year, which seems not to be appropriate
for ladies from a medical point of view.") Now, along with teammates
Jessica Jerome and Sarah Hendrickson—a medal favorite who's recovering
from an ACL injury—Van finally will see her hard work come to fruition
at the Olympics.
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Gay rights activists have called for boycotts, protests, and even moving the Winter Games in response to the new legislation.Google Doodle Goes Gay For Sochi Olympics, Sticks It To Russia
| Fri Feb. 7, 2014 9:22 AM GMTOn Thursday, Google publicly addressed Russia's anti-gay policies. To coincide with the Sochi Winter Games, the Google homepage was updated to depict a rainbow flag (an image associated with LGBT movements) on its Olympics-themed doodle. Check it out:
And if Vladimir Putin goes to Google's homepage in Russia, this is what he'll see:
And when you're not on the homepage, here's the search bar:
"Google has made a clear and unequivocal statement that Russia's anti-LGBT discrimination is indefensible," Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. "Now it's time for each and every remaining Olympic sponsor to follow their lead. The clock is ticking, and the world is watching."
For those keeping count, the Guardian is another "G" that recently modified its logo to resemble a rainbow flag to mark the start of the Sochi Olympics this week.
The Google doodle has been used to deliver political messages before. For example, the company once censored its logo to protest controversial anti-piracy bills.
Google did not respond to Mother Jones' requests for comment.http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/02/google-doodle-sochi-winter-games-olympics-russia-gay-rights-rainbow
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