Tony Guadagnino is a marketing consultant. Located in New Jersey, his clients are based across the country, focusing on social media to build their presence on the internet. He studied creative writing in college and is currently working on his first novel on the subject of bullying. He lives with his partner Mark.
The Olympics Are HERE!
“Well, my friends, the time has come. Raise the roof and have some fun.”
You are cordially invited to attend the 2021 Summer Olympic Games (rescheduled from 2020 – THANK YOU PANDEMIC)
When: July 23rd – August 8th
Where: Tokyo, Japan
(but you can watch on NBC)
Why: Because the time has come for us to watch all of the athletes across the globe, who worked hard and pushed their limits beyond the means of any of us could imagine, in order to qualify to perform on the world stage, and each and every one of them deserves our respect and attention.
To every athlete in every nation on this planet, I wish them the very best of luck to bring home a gold medal (of course, I’m rooting for the U.S.A. to bring home the most).
I have spent the last year discussing different LGBT athletes who paved the way in previous Olympic games. But, what about the ones who are competing now, the future trailblazers of the community. Allow me to introduce them to you:
1 – Laurel Hubbard is a New Zealand weightlifter, will make history as the first openly transgender athlete to ever compete at the Olympics. Laurel is in the women’s super heavyweight 87kg-plus category.
2 – Amandine Buchard is a French Judoka who will be competing in Judo. Earlier this year, she won the gold medal in the 2021 Judo World Masters in Qatar.
3 – Aoife Cooke is an Irish long-distance runner who will be participating in the Marathon race in Tokyo. She won the Cheshire Elite Marathon women’s race earlier this year, beating her personal best by over 4 minutes.
4 – Kayla Miracle is an American wrestler who will be representing the U.S.A. She is a two-time U.S. Open Champion in 2017 and 2018, and she won the Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association national title four times (the fourth woman wrestler to accomplish it).
5 – Anton Down-Jenkins is a New Zealand diver. Now based in North Carolina, Anton qualified in May for the Olympics in the Individual 3m springboard competition.
6 – Sha-Carri Richardson is an American track and field sprinter who will be competing in the 100 and 200 meters. She became “one to watch” back in 2019, when as a freshman at Louisiana State University, she broke the 100 m record (running 10.75 seconds), ranking her as one of the ten fastest women in history.
7 – Rebecca Catherine Quinn (just goes by Quinn) is a Canadian soccer player. In 2019, Quinn came out as transgender and prefers to use non-binary pronouns (they/them). Quinn already won a bronze medal in 2016 and will be back again to represent Canada.
8 – Tom Daley will be returning to Tokyo after winning, representing Great Britain in the diving competition. (See my story on Tom Daley in the March 2021 issue for more details).
In all, there are expected to be well over 100 LGBT competitors in the 2021 Summer Olympic Games. No matter what country you live, or where your ancestry is based, be sure to support all LGBT athletes and take some time to watch the Summer Olympics.
😎