Italian Olympic archer comes out after winning medal

Italian archer Lucilla Boari came out as LGBTQ on Friday in a very 2021 way — on a videoconference call from her girlfriend.

Boari, who became the first Italian archer to win an individual medal in Olympics history, was being interviewed by the Italian media after taking the bronze. Up on the video screen came Sanne de Laat, a Dutch archer who was not in Tokyo.

“Congratulations,” she said as a smile came across Boari’s face. “It’s super amazing and I’m super proud of you. I can’t wait until you’re here so I can give you the biggest hug there is. I love you.”

“That’s Sanne, my girlfriend,” Boari told the media, and with that we had another out LGBTQ Olympian.

She is the second athlete who came out publicly after winning a medal in Tokyo this week. Katarzyna Zillmann of Poland won a silver medal in the quadruple sculls and in a post-race interview, she grabbed a microphone and thanked her girlfriend.

Love and the Olympics do go hand in hand and we hope we see more.

Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images