USA Diving Names Synchro Teams

Thomas Finchum, Kristian Ipsen, Kelci Bryant and Mary Beth Dunnichay have earned spots on USA Diving's roster for this summer's world championships.

Matthew Mitcham Leads Sydney's Gay Mardi Gras Parade

Over 300,000 people were on hand to see Grand Marshall and Olympic gold medalist Matthew Mitcham lead off this year's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade in Sydney, Australia.  This year's theme was Nations United and honored homosexuals around the world, especially those that can't live openly. 

Mitcham Gets Sponsor. Can We Give It A Rest Now?

Let the celebration commence; Australian diver Matthew Mitcham now has a sponsor. Australian telecommunications and media company Telstra has signed Mitcham for an undisclosed amount to represent the company throughout Australia.

For months many have tried to figure out why corporate sponsors weren't flocking to his side and offering him the same lucrative contracts Michael Phelps was getting. I am thrilled for him, simply because I'm sick and tired of listening to all of the whining and idiotic comparisons.

Matthew Mitcham Talks To The Advocate

Forget Michael Phelps' bong bruhaha and Ian Thorpe's latest is-he-or-isn't he controversy. There's really only one Speedo-clad Olympian worth his weight in gold, and that's Australian Matthew Mitcham - this month's Advocate cover boy.

As the world's only out gold medalist, Mitcham found himself in the middle of controversy when NBC failed to mention his sexuality or show his partner's presence in the stands at the Beijing games following Mitcham's storybook comeback to claim Diving Gold.

Matthew Mitcham Grabs Top Sporting Award

Matthew Mitcham captured an Olympic gold medal with his breathtaking final dive last August at Beijing's Water Cube. He's now adding another award to his list. 

After voting concluded, the readers of The Age  and  The Sydney Morning Herald said Mitcham's gold winning performance was Australia's best sporting achievement of the year.   

Matthew Mitcham surprised and saddened by lack of out athletes

(Getty Images)
Back from a well deserved vacation in Rome with his partner Lachlan Fletcher, Matthew Mitcham attends his first press conference and talks with reporters about how he actually nailed his last dive, his future in diving and shares his thoughts on being the only openly gay male athlete at the Beijing Olympics.

Matthew Mitcham gets bum deal?

(Getty Images)
The word on the street is Matthew Mitcham is close to inking a deal with swimwear manufacturer aussieBum. 

"We were fortunate enough to meet Matthew prior to competing in the Beijing Olympics," said Sean Ashby, creator of aussieBum. "Everyone in the company watched Matthew dive. To witness this man winning gold was a moment we will talk about with great pride – an Australian who chose to believe in himself."

 

Matthew Mitcham isn't gay anymore, at least Fox Sports doesn't think so!

First the bad news: In an disappointing about face, the Australian branch of Fox Sports has removed all references of Matthew Mitcham being gay from it's original posting.  Where it originally called Mitcham "openly homosexual", the copy now refers to him simply as "The 20-year-old Sydney diver".  See the screen capture after the jump!

Let Fox Sports know how you feel! Include your comments below!

Now the good news: We've got two great videos of Matthew!  The first is him with his mother and partner Lachlan after the medal ceremony and for those of you who missed his incredible performance, check out the video of all 6 of his dives after the jump. 

Diving: Gay diver Matthew Mitcham wins gold!

(Getty Images)
Australia's Matthew Mitcham has done the incredible and captured the gold from China's Zhou Luxin in the 10m platform diving competition.

Mitcham, trailing Zhou by 30 points going into his final dive, performed an amazing back two-and-a-half somersault with two-and-a-half twists and received four perfect scores from the judges to pull ahead.  Nailing this 3.8 degree of difficulty dive Mitcham will also go in the record books for scoring a 112.10, the highest score ever recorded in competition. 

"It's absolutely surreal. I never thought that this would be possible,'' Mitcham said.

"I wasn't even sure of my medal chances at all. After I did my last dive and I saw I was in first, I thought, "That's it, it's a silver medal, I am so happy with this' and then I won. I can't believe it, I'm so happy.

Zhou finished second and world champion Gleb Galperin of Russia finished third. 

Check out all the photos of Mitcham after the jump!

UPDATE: Click here to see video of all 6 of Matthew's dives, awards ceremony and kissing his mother and boy friend after the ceremony.

Source: Fox Sports Australia

Diving: Matthew Mitcham fails to qualify for 3m finals!

(Getty Images)
It seems nerves got the better of Matthew Mitcham when he failed to make it into the finals, finishing 16th. 

"I know I can get quite nervous and get high anxiety levels, (so) I was trying not to let that get the better of me and I was trying to be really calm in the prelims, which didn't quite work"

"I let myself raise the anxiety levels a little bit for the semi and it might have got a little too much."

"My 3m competition has a bit of maturing to do, whereas my 10m, I feel a lot more confident with it."

Mitcham begins 10m platform competition on Friday.

Source: The Daily Telegraph