Ariella Käslin (anglicised Kaeslin; born 11 October 1987) is a Swiss former artistic gymnast. She won all five gold medals at the 2007 Swiss National Championships,"Käslin Counting Down to Beijing"
John Crumlish, ''International Gymnast,'' November 12, 2007 represented Switzerland at the World Championships in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, and was a medalist on the World Cup circuit. Käslin represented Switzerland at the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

, where she placed 18th in the individual all-around final and 5th in the vault event final.

Gymnastics career

Käslin organized a training boycott in 2007 with three of her teammates due to abusive behavior from the national coach at the time. In 2008, 2009 and 2010, Käslin was voted by the Swiss public as "Swiss Sportswoman of the Year"; only cyclist

Tony Rominger Tony Rominger (born 27 March 1961) is a Swiss former professional road racing cyclist who won the Vuelta a España in 1992, 1993 and 1994 and the Giro d'Italia in 1995. Career He began cycling late, allegedly spurred by competition with his br ...

(1992, 1993, 1994) had previously achieved three consecutive "Sportsman of the Year" awards in Switzerland. In 2009, she became European Champion on the vault, as well as taking home a bronze medal in the all-around final. She then followed up this success with a silver medal on the vault at the 2009 World Championships. On 11 July 2011, Käslin announced her retirement from competition.

Personal life

Käslin was one of eight gymnasts quoted by name in the Magglingen Protocols, where she discussed abuse she had experienced as a gymnast. In April 2021, Käslin came out as a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. 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 nouns with female homosexu ...

. Regarding her decision to come out publicly, she remarked: "I then understood that as a public figure, I also had to come out publicly, otherwise I would never be able to live my love for a woman in complete freedom. But I'm also scared."

References

External links

Ariella Käslin homepage"Gespräch mit Ariella Käslin"
2013 interview (in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaslin, Ariella 1987 births Living people Swiss female artistic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts for Switzerland European champions in gymnastics LGBTQ gymnasts Swiss lesbians Lesbian sportswomen Swiss LGBTQ sportspeople Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 21st-century Swiss LGBTQ people Sportspeople from Lucerne 21st-century Swiss sportswomen