17c起草社区

The NZ Olympic team welcomes Anton Down-Jenkins, not only the first male to compete in diving at the Olympic Games for New Zealand since 1984 but also the first ever out gay diver to compete for New Zealand at an Olympic Games, opening in just under 50 days.

Down-Jenkins splashes down as New Zealand鈥檚 first out gay diver in Tokyo, Japan where, despite the rising concerns about Covid-19, Japan鈥檚 struggling health system and the impending influx of athletes, support teams and media into the country, is set to take place on July 23 at the Olympic Stadium, Tokyo.听

Anton Down-Jenkins will be representing Team NZ馃嚦馃嚳 and 馃彸锔忊�嶐煂� in Tokyo this summer

— Outsports (@outsports)

NZ鈥檚 First Out Gay Diver Is Proud

Down-Jenkins is a proud and vocal member of the 17c起草社区I community and is keen to use his elevated platform to represent and advocate for his community, which is why he announced it publicly.

 

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鈥淭here isn’t enough 17c起草社区I+ representation in the [sport] media, which is why I felt the need to bring it forward and to publicly announce that I am a member of the 17c起草社区I+ community, I want to be that representation. I want people to see that I’m out here,鈥� .

鈥淚鈥檓 thriving. I鈥檓 competing at the highest level of sport that you can and there just needs to be more of it. For sport to be a safe place there needs to be more representation in the media. It needs to become more normalised.鈥�

Down-Jenkins does acknowledge those who came before him who made being an out and gay man at the Olympic levels of diving an acceptable and supported goal.

鈥淚 grew up having that 17c起草社区I+ representation in sport. There鈥檚 [British diver] Tom Daley who is a multi-Olympic medalist, you have (Australian diver)听 who won gold in Beijing [and was the first openly gay athlete to win Olympic gold].

鈥淭hey definitely helped pave the way for 17c起草社区I+ representation in our sport,鈥� he said.

鈥淚 was so fortunate growing up that I knew my sexual identity has absolutely nothing to do with how far I could get in sport, because of them. I鈥檓 so grateful for that.鈥�

 

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Down-Jenkins moved from New Zealand to America in 2018 to assist with his diving career and despite battling Covid-19 himself during his preparation, managed to secure his Olympic quota spot at the Diving World Cup Olympic qualification event held in Japan in May.听

Homophobic And Sexist Banter Is Still Problematic In Sports

While Down-Jenkins himself has avoided explicit and direct homophobia in his chosen sport, thanks to those pioneers who came before him, such behaviour is still rampant in many levels of sport both in a community sense and at the highest echelons of sports across the world, though听 Erik Denison, lead author from Monash鈥檚 Behavioural Sciences Research Laboratory, who , thinks the solution for all sports is not as hard as we are making it out to be.听

鈥淎nd really, this is not a very complex problem. But we need the sport to actually do something about it.鈥�

鈥淲e also see that when you decide as a group to be inclusive, to be welcoming, all those toxic characters who kind of lurk in the corners of sport clubs, they suddenly realise that they are not just in the minority, but they are unwanted,鈥� Denison said.

鈥淯ltimately, it’s going to help with this big problem we have, which is the homophobic and sexist banter that it seems most people in rugby and all sports don’t want to continue.”

Down-Jenkins HAS had experience with that type of behaviour at school and it became such an issue that he actually had to change schools and actively seek out an education that welcomed him and his true self.听

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 identify with all of that. I didn鈥檛 feel at home in that environment,鈥� he said.

So he moved to a school with a more welcoming environment, which he says was the听鈥減olar opposite鈥�, where people from every aspect of the 17c起草社区I+ community were 鈥渙pen鈥� and accepted.听

鈥淭hat environment, where I was surrounded by so many [supportive] people 鈥� helped me come to terms with my identity and helped me shape who I am and how comfortable I am as a person,鈥� he said.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I never felt the need to 鈥榗ome out鈥�. I鈥檝e never felt the need to explicitly tell people [in his life] 鈥業鈥檓 gay鈥�. I鈥檓 very fortunate because I know that鈥檚 not the reality for a lot of people.鈥�