Belle Brockhoff (born 12 January 1993) is an Australian

snowboarder Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympi ...

, who has represented Australia at the

FIS Snowboarding World Championships The FIS Snowboarding World Championships is the world championship organized by the FIS for Snowboarding. It was first held in 1996 and is now held every odd year. The championship events include Big air, Half-pipe, Parallel giant slalom, Parallel ...

and the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

. She competes in

snowboard cross Snowboard cross, also known as boardercross, is a snowboard competition in which four to six competitors race down a course. Snowboard cross courses are typically quite narrow and include cambered turns, various types of jumps, berms, rollers, ...

. She competed at the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

, in Women's snowboard cross. She was a competitor in the 2013 FIS World Championship snowboard cross, and in the 2014 Winter Olympic snowboard cross."Sochi 2014: Gay snowboarder Belle Brockhoff will limit protest"

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

, 4 February 2014.

Life

Brockhoff currently studies a Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Laws at

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia. Its main campuses are in Melbourne's Burwood suburb, Geelong Waurn Ponds, ...

, after initially starting a Bachelor of Commerce.

Personal life

Brockhoff came out as a

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

in August 2013."Australian Olympic Hopeful Belle Brockhoff Comes Out Ahead Of Sochi 2014"
'' Out'', 22 August 2013. She is a supporter and endorser of the

Principle 6 campaign The Principle Six campaign, also Principle 6, or P6, was launched in January 2014 as an Olympic protests of Russian anti-gay laws in conjunction with the 2014 Winter Olympics being held in Sochi, Russia. Principle 6 refers to the sixth principle ...

, part of the

Olympic protests of Russian anti-gay laws During the lead-up to the 2014 Winter Olympics, protests and campaigns arose surrounding the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Russia. Concerns for LGBT athletes and supporters during the Games began as early as M ...

, but pledged to be cautious about how actively she protested while in

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

due to the risk of arrest. In 2014 she appeared in the documentary film '' To Russia with Love''."‘To Russia With Love’: Can Johnny Weir Save Russia’s Gays?"
''

Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'', 29 October 2014.

References

External links

* Olympic snowboarders of Australia Snowboarders at the 2014 Winter Olympics Snowboarders at the 2018 Winter Olympics Snowboarders at the 2022 Winter Olympics Australian LGBT sportspeople LGBT snowboarders Lesbian sportswomen Living people Australian female snowboarders 1993 births Australian people of German descent Sportspeople from Melbourne 21st-century LGBT people 21st-century Australian women People from East Melbourne Sportswomen from Victoria (Australia) {{Australia-snowboarding-bio-stub