Rayan Dutra with his silver medal from the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile | Ricardo Bufolin @rbufolin / CBG

Name: Rayan Dutra
Country: Brazil
Sport: Trampoline
Previous Olympic Experience: None
Social Media: Instagram/TikTok

Who Is Rayan Dutra?

After his first competition on the trampoline at age 11, Rayan Dutra quickly ascended through the ranks to become one of Brazil’s most decorated stars in the history of the event.

He trained at the sport’s prestigious Minas Tenis Clube and announced his presence with authority at the 2019 Pan Am Games when he took home a fifth-place finish at the age of 17.

Two years later, Dutra leveled up with an individual gold medal at the 2021 Junior Pan Am Games. For good measure, he also finished in seventh place at the synchro final at his first world cChampionships.

His star kept ascending in 2023, capturing a national championship in trampoline as well as individual silver and synchro bronze medals at that year’s Pan Am Games.

Related

Dutra identifies as bisexual and even as he was making a name for himself in his sport, he still had to deal with the difficulties that come with growing up LGBTQ. 

“When you’re a little more feminine than the other boys, the bullying starts in schools. It wasn’t that much with me, but it was present in my life,” he told Outsports’ Jon Holmes. 

However, he soon found that his prominence in trampoline gave him an avenue to make his peers acknowledge his humanity.

“I guess they viewed me as, ‘Oh my God, he’s really good! I’ve got to respect him a little bit more,’” he recalled.

Rayan Dutra at the Paris Summer Olympics

Dutra will be making history for his country at the 2024 Games. By qualifying for Paris, he became the first Brazilian trampolinist to earn a spot in the Olympics. 

The only other time Brazil had competed in trampoline was when they were granted a berth as hosts of the 2016 Games.

In addition, Dutra is also aware that he will be representing the LGBTQ community in Paris and plans to be vocal about it.

“Of course I want to come and talk about our rights,” he said. “I think it’s the most important thing we can do right now. The Olympics is a big platform for us athletes to go and do content and talk about everything that we can possibly say.”

It will be exciting to watch Dutra on the trampoline at the Olympics. And it sounds like it’ll be just as compelling to listen to him outside of the arena as well.