Female Japanese Soccer Star Comes Out Ahead of 2020 Olympics
Participants in the 2020 Olympics have not yet been determined, but next year's games might already have their first LGBTQ star. Shiho Shimoyamada, who plays for German team SV Meppen, has publicly come out, saying that she hopes other LGTBQ people will feel welcome in sports, while athletes who are LGBTQ will also emerge from the closet, MSN reports.
Shimoyamada, 24, came out in an interview with Japanese newspaper The Asahi Shimbun. She said she was unhappy with the lack of encouragement that organizers of next year's games in Tokyo were giving to athletes who are also sexual minorities. Though the organizers have mounted a campaign to encourage non-heterosexual to become athletes, "You don't see the face of an LGBT person," she said.
The interview was on the subject of the 2020 Olympics Pride House, reported Inside the Games.com.
"It will be powerful if an actual LGBT athlete sends a message" to LGBTQ athletes to be out and open, she said, going on to add, "For those struggling, let's take a step forward together. I hope we can see someday soon an environment where we can all enjoy sports openly."
The athlete added, "Once you share your feelings with the company you keep, sports will become even more fun."
The soccer star told the paper that her German teammates were fully accepting of her; moreover, she said, while she knew she wasn't attracted to men while still in high school, it wasn't until she met other athletes who were not heterosexual that she began to feel that she was free to be her authentic self. "I finally realized I could be who I was," she disclosed.
Olympic teams have yet to be assembled for the 2020 Olympics, so Shimoyamada was not speaking as a participant in the games — at least, not yet.