Editor’s note: After the Olympics we added Argentine field hockey player Sofi Maccari to our lists of out Olympians and medal winners.
Out LGBTQ athletes at the Tokyo Summer Olympics earned more medals than any country that criminalizes homosexuality. And it wasn’t even close.
Team LGBTQ finished seventh in the overall medal count at the Olympics, and 57 publicly out athletes won a gold, silver or bronze in Tokyo.
Kenya was the closest country that criminalizes same-sex sexual activity in the Tokyo Olympics medal count. Kenya won four gold medals and 10 total medals, a fraction of the incredible medal performance from Team LGBTQ.
Jamaica was not far behind Kenya, with four golds and nine total medals.
Those two countries finished 19th and 21st in the medal count, respectively.
Iran, which kills people for being gay, finished with just seven medals. The gays absolutely crushed Iran in the medal count.
To be sure, no country is perfect on LGBTQ issues. The Russian conglomerate collectively finished fifth overall, and we know about the issues of being LGBTQ in that country. Heck, in the United States trans athletes are under heavy attack today.
Still, Team LGBTQ besting every country that makes homosexuality illegal has to bring a good feeling.
It’s a similar result to the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics results, when Jamaica was the closest medal finisher to Team LGBTQ.
