Amazin LeThi hopes Beijing Winter Olympics inspire LGBTQ+ athletes

The Beijing Winter Olympics can inspire the next generation of athletes from the LGBTQ+ community, says Stonewall UK ambassador Amazin LeThi.

Outsports report there will be at least 35 out LGBTQ+ athletes competing at the 2022 Games, more than double the amount who took part four years ago in Pyeongchang.

While concerns remain over freedom of speech in the Chinese capital, LeThi believes the visibility of what will be a record number of LGBTQ+ Winter Olympians during the next month can influence aspiring athletes.

The global LGBTQ+ advocate told the PA news agency: “There is always that saying you can’t be what you can’t see and I think of myself when I was a kid, not seeing one out LGBTQ+ athlete.

“I was always told in sport that I could never be openly out so you can imagine what it would have meant to me to see a Tom Daley.

“And what it will mean to an LGBTQ+ person watching the Beijing Olympics to see so many people like themselves.”

British diver Daley has championed equality throughout his career after he first revealed at the end of 2013 he was in a relationship with a man.

After the 27-year-old from Plymouth won gold at the Tokyo Games in July, he told LGBTQ+ people: “You can achieve anything.”

He received widespread praise and later commented: “I feel incredibly proud to say that I am a gay man and also an Olympic champion.”

The voices of LGBTQ+ athletes being heard in Beijing is a point of contention given the host nation’s relative intolerance and warnings of punishment for speaking out on such issues.

But LeThi knows it is vital, adding: “It is huge. Tom has always been vocal and used his platform for positive impact.

“It always means so much in that moment when an LGBTQ+ athlete with such a high profile like