Gay Australian gymnast Heath Thorpe has qualified for his sport’s 2023 World Championships, as he and his teammates also set their hopes on the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Last week, the Sydney-based 22-year-old and his national teammates very narrowly beat Team New Zealand to win the Oceania Continental Championships on the Gold Coast.
Heath placed first in his floor event, as well as second in the high bar competition.
“We did it! Team AUS are your 2023 Oceania Champions and with that have secured a ticket to Worlds!” Heath tweeted.
“It’s hard to describe how proud I am of each of these boys. It was a nail-biter but the grit, spirit and fight we showed tonight got us across the line.”
2023 Oceania Floor Champion! 5.7/13.933 pic.twitter.com/7NOzMX0lk8
— Heath Thorpe (@thorpeheath) May 6, 2023
Heath Thorpe and his Aussie teammates – James Hardy, Clay Mason Stephens, Mitchell Morgans and David Tanner – now go to the 2023 World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, in October.
The gymnasts hope to be one of the men’s teams selected for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Heath can also qualify individually.
We did it! 💚💛 Team AUS are your 2023 Oceania Champions and with that have secured a ticket to Worlds!
It’s hard to describe how proud I am of each of these boys. It was a nail biter but the grit, spirit and fight we showed tonight got us across the line. pic.twitter.com/KJETrWK7yO
— Heath Thorpe (@thorpeheath) May 6, 2023
Heath Thorpe says stereotypes persist in gymnastics
The athlete came out as gay in his sport at age 18 and remains one of the few active male gymnasts who are out. The Aussie has over 106,000 Instagram followers.
He previously told Inside Gymnastics that in the past few years he’s had to confront stereotypes in the sport.
“Outside of the gymnastics world there is a stereotype of men’s gymnastics being feminine or being seen as gay or girly,” Heath explained.
“We’re told that all the time as kids. When you say, ‘I do gymnastics’ someone replies, ‘That’s for girls.’
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“So you’re told from a young age that the sport you’re doing is emasculating, essentially. I think in retaliation to that, men’s gymnastics has created this environment of hyper masculinity and heteronormativity.
“Artistry in the eyes of men’s gymnastics equals femininity and for some reason we see that as a bad thing.
“But in reality it requires so much work and time and it’s really hard to do it well.
“[Taking] away the space for any creativity… can be a really dangerous thing because it just becomes a sport about power tumbling.”
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