List of LGBT Olympians and Paralympians

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As of 2024, at least 49 nations, and the Refugee Olympic Team, have been represented by an LGBTQ+ person at the Olympics or Paralympics
LGBT Olympians and Paralympians

Lists of LGBT+ Summer Olympic athletes
(1896–2000), (2004–2020), (2024); by debut

List of LGBT+ Winter Olympians; by debut

List of LGBT+ Paralympians; by debut

List of LGBT+ artists at the Olympics
LGBTI history and issues

There have been 827 modern Olympians[a] (including Paralympians, Summer Olympic athletes and artists, and Winter Olympians) who have identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, pansexual, non-binary, and/or queer, or who have openly been in a same-sex relationship. The first Olympic Games in which an athlete now known to be LGBT+ competed was the 1900 Summer Olympics, also the first LGBT+ Olympic medalist and first contemporaneously out Olympian.[b] LGBT+ Olympians have contested events across over 60 sports, as well as several artistic events. The majority of LGBT+ Olympians are female. The Olympic sport with the most LGBT+ participants is football. The nation with the most out LGBT+ Olympians is the United States, including two who have also competed for other nations.[a]

The most decorated LGBT+ Olympian is British Paralympic equestrian Lee Pearson, with 17 medals including 14 golds;[c] the most decorated able-bodied LGBT+ Olympian is Dutch speed skater Ireen Wüst, with 13 medals including 6 golds;[d] the most decorated able-bodied LGBT+ Summer Olympian is Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe, with 9 medals including 5 golds.[b] LGBT+ Olympians who hold Olympic records include Wüst;[e] footballers Pia Sundhage and Vivianne Miedema;[f] rower Emma Twigg;[g] and triple jumper Yulimar Rojas, who also holds the world record.[h] At least 371 LGBT+ Olympians are medalists (44.86% of LGBT+ Olympians), of which 165 have at least one gold medal (19.95%).[i]


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  1. ^ Hanley, Elizabeth A. (2004). Wamsley, Kevin B. (ed.). "The Role of Dance in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games". Seventh International Symposium for Olympic Research. London, Ontario: LA84 Foundation. Retrieved 2022-08-14.