Australians on Sunday rushed to embrace gold-winning diver Matthew Mitcham who emerged from the Beijing pool both giant-killer and a gay icon. ( dpa )
The 20-year-old charmer shed tears after a near-perfect final dive edged him above the hot favourite to the top place on the podium. It was the eighth and last medal in the diving and everyone expected China's Zhou Luxin to triumph.
"Everything, absolutely everything I have done, has been for this," he said. "Now it's happened and I never thought it would."
Mitcham battled depression after missing selection for Athens and spent nine months in retirement before getting back on the board last year.
"So very proud of you!" an Australian named Nick said in a posting on the Herald Sun website. "You will be an amazing role model of excellence and fearlessness for the young gay athletes who follow you."
Mitcham is the only man among 10,500 Olympic athletes who declared himself homosexual. But he refused to be categorized as the only gay in the athletes' village.
"I just want to be known as the Australian diver who did really well at the Olympics," he said. "It's everybody else who thinks it's special when homosexuality and elite sports go together."
And so it was for many sports fans posting messages on the Herald Sun website.
"It must have been so hard to believe that you could beat the Chinese but you did, then went out there and did it," said an anonymous admirer. "Definitely the best medal of the Olympics for Australia for me. Nothing can top that in my books."