We first noticed trampoline gymnast Dominic Clarke when he messaged Outsports to be added to our list of out Olympic athletes in advance of the Tokyo Games last summer.
Now after a stunning performance during his blind audition on ‘The Voice Australia’, it’s safe to say he won’t be slipping under anyone’s radar.
After launching into the opening lines of Sam Fischer’s “This City,” it took all of 23 seconds for the first two judges to turn their chairs around. Jessica Mauboy smashed her chair’s button and exclaimed “WHOA!” so thunderously, it was as if Clarke’s vocals made her realize she knows kung fu.
By the 45-second mark, Clarke’s falsetto had won over Keith Urban, resulting in all four judges choosing to advance him past the first round.
Clarke, who identifies as gay and queer, received a standing ovation at the conclusion of his performance and looked ebullient as he soaked in what he had accomplished. During the judges’ critiques, he gradually revealed his gymnastics background as Guy Sebastian called attention to the Olympic rings tattoo on his left forearm.
When pressed as to which experience was more difficult, Clarke admitted that “This [singing] is way scarier. Because this is my soul! This is my soul! I’m a robot on the trampoline. But here this is…you’re getting 100 percent me. And that’s really scary.”
To be clear, if Clarke is a robot on the trampoline, he’s an incredibly successful one as he turned in a fourth place finish in the Tokyo Olympics qualifying round to make it to the finals.
Although he was out to family and teammates during his teen years, Clarke felt pressure to avoid perpetuating a stereotypical image of male gymnasts and didn’t publicly come out until just before Tokyo.
When he did so, he also took on the mantle of Gymnastics New South Wales Pride Ambassador and had an incredible Olympic experience. As he recalled in his coming out story for Outsports:
“When I got onto that Olympic floor with all those other athletes, I danced and smiled, and I was campy and quirky with the whole world watching. I was composed and competed authentically and it led me to be Dominic Clarke, Olympic Finalist and Proud Gay Olympian. I was having a gay old time.”
That same authenticity and confidence shone through during his “Voice” audition. After making it to the next round, Clarke chose Rita Ora as his mentor for the duration of the show. Based on the reaction to his audition, he’ll be a contestant to watch.
