Matthew John Mitcham
OAM (born 2 March 1988) is a retired Australian
diver and
trampolinist
Trampolining or trampoline gymnastics is a competitive Olympic sport in which athletes perform acrobatics while bouncing on a trampoline. In competition, these can include simple jumps in the straight, pike, tuck, or straddle position to more com ...
. As a diver, he was the 2008 Olympic champion in the
10m platform, and he is the 2nd highest single-dive score in Olympic history (at the time it was the highest scoring dive ever). This made him the first openly gay athlete to win an Olympic gold medal.
He is also the first Australian male to win an Olympic gold medal in diving since
Dick Eve
Richmond Cavill "Dick" Eve (19 March 1901 – 13 March 1970) was an Australian diver who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics. He won the gold medal in the plain high diving and finished fifth in the 3 metre springboard event. He was the firs ...
at the
1924 Summer Olympics
The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIIe olympiade) and also known as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The op ...
.
Career
Mitcham originally competed as a trampoline gymnast. He was spotted by Wang Tong Xiang, who is a coach at the
Australian Institute of Sport
The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...
Diving Program, while at the Chandler Aquatic Centre in Brisbane's suburbs, and Mitcham continued with both diving and trampolining for several years.
As a trampolinist, Mitcham represented Australia at the World Junior Championships in 1999 and 2001, winning the double mini-tramp event. He also competed at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in 2003, finishing sixth.
From 2002 through 2004, Mitcham was a national junior champion in diving, winning the events in which he competed. Mitcham competed at the 2002 World Junior Diving Championships, where he placed 11th in the springboard, 5th in the 3 m and 16th in the 10 m platform. In 2004, he won the silver medals in the 1 m, 3 m synchronised, and 10 m platform events at the World Junior Championships. At the 2004 Junior Nationals, he won the 1 m, 3 m, and 10 m and 3 m synchro titles. At the 2004 Olympic Trials, he placed 3rd on the 3 m and 10 m individual events, 2nd on the 3 m and 10 m synchro events, and did not qualify for the Olympic team. In 2005, Mitcham won his first senior national title. He competed at the Australian Olympic Youth Festival, where he won the silver medal in the 1 m with a score of 508.35, and won the 3 m, 10 m and 3 m synchro (with
Scott Robertson) titles with scores of 565, 555.8, and 316.23 respectively. At the
2005 World Aquatics Championships
The 2005 World Aquatics Championships (french: Championnats du monde de natation 2005) or the XI FINA World Championships were held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from July 16 to July 31, 2005. They took place in Parc Jean-Drapeau on Saint Helen's I ...
in Montreal, he placed 12th on the 10 m platform with a score of 560.73.
In 2006, Mitcham competed in the German Grand Prix event, placing 16th on the 3 m and 6th on the 10 m, and at the US Grand Prix at Fort Lauderdale, placing 8th on the 3m springboard. At the Canada Cup he placed 26th on the 3 m and won the bronze medal on the 10 m platform. He represented
Australia at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
Australia at the 2006 Commonwealth Games was represented by Australian Commonwealth Games Association the (ACGA), and abbreviated AUS. Athletes from Australia were given automatic qualification in all sports due to the host status.
Australia fi ...
, where he competed in the 1 m, 3 m, and 10 m events. He placed 4th in the 3 m and the 3 m synchro with Robertson, and 5th on the 1 m and 10 m events.
Taking a break from the sport in 2006, he returned in 2007 and started to train under current coach Chava Sobrino at the New South Wales Institute of Sport. In 2008 Mitcham won the 1 m, 3 m and 10 m individual events at the Australian Nationals. Later that year he won the 2008 Diving Grand Prix event in
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...
.
2008 Summer Olympics
![Matthew Mitcham by Lance Richardson](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Matthew_Mitcham_by_Lance_Richardson.jpg)
Mitcham represented
Australia at the 2008 Summer Olympics
A total of 433 competitors competed for Australia at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The team was Australia's second largest away team after the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, which included a team of 482 competitors. Australian athletes ha ...
in the
10 m platform and the
3 m springboard events. He placed 16th on the 3 m springboard and did not qualify for the final. He qualified in second position for the semi-final and final of the 10 m platform event. After experiencing mixed success in his first five dives in the final, Mitcham entered the final round of dives in second place, 34 points behind Chinese diver
Zhou Lüxin
Zhou Lüxin (; born July 31, 1988 in Wuhu, Anhui) is a Chinese diver. He competed for Team China at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Major achievements
He claimed the gold medal at the 2006 World Cup - 10m platform event. He also won the s ...
.
After Zhou performed his worst dive of the final and scored 74.80, Mitcham still needed to score 107.30, a very high score on the platform, to win the gold.
[Beijing 2008 - Diving Men's 10 m Platform Intermediate Results](_blank)
However, his near-perfect final dive drew four perfect 10 scores from judges and achieved a score of 112.10, the highest single-dive score in Olympic history at the time. He finished with an overall score of 537.95 to defeat Zhou, who finished with an overall score of 533.15, to win Australia's second diving medal of the Games. His win prevented China from claiming a clean-sweep of all diving gold medals at the Olympic Games.
He is the first Australian male to win an Olympic gold medal in diving since
Dick Eve
Richmond Cavill "Dick" Eve (19 March 1901 – 13 March 1970) was an Australian diver who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics. He won the gold medal in the plain high diving and finished fifth in the 3 metre springboard event. He was the firs ...
in 1924.
Mitcham's medal was followed by the Australia Post issuing a 50-cent stamp of him.
2009 and beyond
Following his victory at the
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...
, Mitcham placed fourth in his next major contest on the
10-metre platform, the
2009 World Aquatics Championships
The 2009 World Aquatics Championships ( it, Campionati mondiali di nuoto 2009) or the XIII FINA World Championships were held in Rome, Italy from 18 July to 2 August 2009. The 2009 Championships featured competition in all 5 aquatics disciplines ...
in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. He was beaten narrowly by
Zhou Lüxin
Zhou Lüxin (; born July 31, 1988 in Wuhu, Anhui) is a Chinese diver. He competed for Team China at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Major achievements
He claimed the gold medal at the 2006 World Cup - 10m platform event. He also won the s ...
, the Chinese diver he'd beaten in the Olympics final, while British youngster
Tom Daley
Tom or TOM may refer to:
* Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name)
Characters
* Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head''
* Tom Beck, a character ...
took home the championship.
At the
2010 Commonwealth Games
The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...
, Mitcham won four silver medals, partnering fellow Australian diver
Ethan Warren
Ethan Warren (born 2 October 1991) is an Australian diver.
Diving career
Ethan first received his Australian Institute of Sport scholarship in 2009, which allowed him to focus on his diving career.
Some of career highlights include winning ...
to come runner-up in the synchronized events in both the 3 and 10-metre. In the 1 metre springboard final he lost to Canadian
Alexandre Despatie
Alexandre Despatie (; born June 8, 1985) is a Canadian diver and broadcaster from Laval, Quebec. He was the world champion at the 1 and 3 m springboards from 2005 to 2007 and is the first, and so far only, diver to have been world champion ...
. In his specialist event, the 10-metre platform, he again lost to
Tom Daley
Tom or TOM may refer to:
* Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name)
Characters
* Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head''
* Tom Beck, a character ...
.
As outlined in his 2012 autobiography, Mitcham commenced use of recreational
methamphetamine
Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamph ...
in 2011, becoming addicted to the substance and subsequently recovering with the assistance of Narcotics Anonymous. Mitcham is quoted as saying "I had still failed to achieve my childhood dream of becoming the best in the world at something," and so had turned to drug use. Australian Olympic Committee officials, in November 2012, stated that they had been unaware of the drug use (which occurred prior to the London 2012 Summer Olympics), but welcomed Mitcham's recovery.
In December 2011, Mitcham returned from an abdominals injury to win the Australian 10-metre platform with 480.05 points putting his Olympic dreams back on track. Not only did Mitcham achieve this accolade, he was also named Male Diver of the Year 2012.
Mitcham placed 13th in the semifinals of the
10m event at the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
, narrowly missing the mark to qualify for the finals.
In November 2012, he published an autobiography entitled ''Twists and Turns''. This was originally only available in hard copy in Australia and as an e-book internationally, and a paperback version was released internationally on 2 July 2013.
In 2013, Mitcham performed as an
MC during the
Melbourne Cabaret Festival
The Melbourne Cabaret Festival is a not-for-profit cabaret festival that has been held each year since 2010 in the city of Melbourne in Australia and that by 2013 had grown to become the world's second-largest event of its kind.
The festival was l ...
, and they subsequently assisted him to turn his autobiography into a
cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...
show. After a successful
crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...
campaign in December 2013, the show premiered at the 2014
Fringe World
Fringe World, formerly Fringe World Festival, is an annual multi-arts fringe festival held in Perth, Western Australia during the city's summer festival season of January/February. The annual program of events features artists and acts from a r ...
festival in Perth. The show has toured Australia and notably featured in the 2015
Sydney Mardi Gras
The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras or Sydney Mardi Gras is an event in Sydney, New South Wales attended by hundreds of thousands of people from around Australia and overseas. One of the largest such festivals in the world, Mardi Gras is the ...
festival.
In 2013, Mitcham became a judge on the Australian diving show ''
Celebrity Splash!
''Celebrity Splash!'' (also known as ''Splash!'') is a reality television franchise created by Netherlands, Dutch company Eyeworks, started from their Dutch reality show ''Sterren Springen Op Zaterdag'' which premièred in 2012. The franchise in ...
'', alongside
Greg Louganis
Gregory Efthimios Louganis (; born January 29, 1960) is an American Olympic diver, LGBT activist, and author who won gold medals at the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics on the springboard and platform. He is the only man and the second diver in Ol ...
and
Alisa Camplin
Alisa Peta Camplin, (born 10 November 1974) is an Australian aerial skier who won gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics, the second ever winter Olympic gold medal for Australia. At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Camplin finished third to receive a bronz ...
. The show's ratings were low by the end of the season, and it was cut short.
In 2015, Mitcham will again appear in a Seven Network reality show, as a contestant in the
fifteenth season of
Dancing with the Stars
''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...
. Mitcham announced his retirement from diving at the beginning of 2016 to focus on his showbiz career.
Personal life
Mitcham was born in
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
but lives and trains in Sydney. He publicly
came out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
as gay in 2008 to the ''
Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...
'' when they were profiling Olympic hopefuls.
During the
2008 Beijing Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...
, he was also featured on the cover of the international gay publication ''
The Advocate
An advocate is a professional in the field of law.
The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to:
Magazines
* ''The Advocate'' (LGBT magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States
*''The Harvard Advocate'', a literary magazin ...
'' in August 2008 and March 2009, as well as the cover of Australian gay publication
''DNA''. Mitcham's then boyfriend, Lachlan Fletcher, attended the 2008 Summer Olympics as a spectator. His trip was sponsored by a grant from
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company i ...
's Athlete Family Support Program.
Mitcham gained media coverage in Australia as reporters thought he was the first Australian to compete at the
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
as an openly
gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
man at the time of his competition. However,
Craig Rogerson, the Australian diver, had publicly announced he was gay before the
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
, as had
Mathew Helm
Mathew Helm (born 9 December 1980) is an Australian diver who won the silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the men's 10-metre platform. He was in first place at the end of the preliminary round and the semi-finals, but was passed by Chine ...
, the Australian diver who won the silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the men's 10m platform.
Other notable gay Australian Olympians include
Ji Wallace
Ji Wallace (born 23 June 1977 in Lismore, Victoria, Australia) is an Australian trampoline gymnast and Olympic silver medalist.
Earlier in his career, Wallace won several Australian national titles and made an international breakthrough in 1 ...
, who competed at the
2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...
and won a silver medal in the inaugural
trampoline
A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched between a steel frame using many coiled spring (device), springs. Not all trampolines have springs, as the Springfree Trampoline uses glass-reinforced plastic rods. ...
event; however, he came out after the Games, as well as
Daniel Kowalski
Daniel Steven Kowalski (born 2 July 1975) is an Australian former middle- and long-distance swimmer specialising in freestyle events. He competed in the Olympic Games in 200-, 400- and 1,500-metre individual freestyle events and in the 4 × ...
and
Ian Thorpe
Ian James Thorpe, (born 13 October 1982) is an Australian retired swimmer who specialised in freestyle, but also competed in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian along wit ...
.
Prior to his 10m platform win,
Outsports.com reported Mitcham to be one of only ten openly gay athletes competing in the
2008 Beijing Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...
.
Mitcham has said when asked to comment on his coming out: "I don’t see sexuality as influencing my beliefs or opinions or perceptions of anybody, whether they’re gay, straight, bi, trans, experimental, I don’t care. I see it as a very uninfluential factor in people." Mitcham has said that after the Beijing Olympics, he received many letters from gay teenagers, "and that was really nice, really humbling".
In 2009 and 2010, Mitcham was selected by readers of samesame.com.au as one of the 25 most influential gay Australians.
On 3 June 2019, he announced his engagement to his British boyfriend Luke Rutherford after being together for seven months, and they married on 22 February 2020.
As of October 2021, he lives in London, UK, and is friends with Tom Daley.
Sponsorship
Despite his diving achievements, Mitcham struggled to attract corporate sponsorship. In ''The Advocate'', an editor said, "What's a guy to do when he's got the gold, the fame, the man - but no big-time endorsements?" In 2009, Mitcham secured financial support from the Australian telecommunications provider
Telstra
Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...
.
In March 2010, Matthew Mitcham was announced as the new face of ''
Funky Trunks
Way Funky Company Pty Ltd (or Way Funky) is an Australian swimwear apparel manufacturing company based in Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 2002 by Duncan McLean, and specializes in colorful chlorine resistant sports swimwear. The company a ...
'' and has appeared on advertising campaigns across Australia, Europe and the United States. He is also a spokesman and "swimwear ambassador" for the brand.
Other appearances
In 2009, Matthew Mitcham was the Chief of Parade of the
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras
The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras or Sydney Mardi Gras is an event in Sydney, New South Wales attended by hundreds of thousands of people from around Australia and overseas. One of the largest such festivals in the world, Mardi Gras is the ...
after being declared the 2008 Australian Sports Performer of the Year. In February and March 2010, Mitcham appeared in the
second season of
''Rexona Greatest Athlete Australia'' reality television series in which 8 of Australia's most popular sports athletes compete in 8 episodes in various challenges to win the "best athlete" award. He also announced taking part in the
Cologne 2010 Gay Games in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. He was seen promoting the Games. The event featured 35 sports, as well as community and cultural events. He competed in an episode of Australian game show ''
Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation
''Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation'' is an Australian game show produced by Granada Productions which premiered on Network Ten on 5 May 2009. It is hosted by Shaun Micallef.
History Original run
The first series ran on Network Ten for 18 episode ...
'', representing 'Gen Y' with comedian
Josh Thomas. He appeared in an episode of Celebrity Come Dine With Me Australia with entertainer Maria Venuti, presenter Sophie Falkiner and X Factor Presenter Luke Jacobz who battled it out to win $2000 for their charity. In March 2015, he starred in 'Are You Ready For Freddie', a tribute video to
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. Regarded as one of the greatest singers in the ...
organised by the
Sydney Mardi Gras
The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras or Sydney Mardi Gras is an event in Sydney, New South Wales attended by hundreds of thousands of people from around Australia and overseas. One of the largest such festivals in the world, Mardi Gras is the ...
. The video went viral, reaching more than 1.3 million views.
Recognition
*2020 -
Sport Australia Hall of Fame
The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and Dawn Fraser th ...
inductee
References
External links
*
Australian Olympic Team profile2008 Olympics profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitcham, Matthew
1988 births
Australian Institute of Sport divers
Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia
Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia
Divers at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
Divers at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Divers at the 2010 Commonwealth Games
Divers at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Divers at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
Gay sportsmen
LGBT divers
Australian LGBT sportspeople
Living people
Australian male divers
Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Olympic divers of Australia
Olympic gold medalists for Australia
Olympic medalists in diving
Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia
Sportsmen from Queensland
Sportspeople from Brisbane
Commonwealth Games medallists in diving
Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees