Judo is one of the most unforgiving sports, and Timo Cavelius was certainly reminded of that Tuesday.
The German was making his Olympic debut in Paris and also making a little bit of Team LGBTQ history, as the first male judoka to compete in a Games while being out as gay.
Related
However, the 27-year-old, whose day job is with the Bavarian police, was handed a tough draw in the –81 kg category — a round-of-32 match against a former world champion.
Get off the sidelines and into the game
Cavelius appeared to be getting the better of Sagi Muki but when the Israeli got a glimpse of a victory-sealing Ippon, he executed it with perfection.
It left Cavelius visibly stunned, and he remained lying on the mat before throwing his hands up in the air before exiting the Champs-de-Mars Arena.
Muki would suffer a similar fate in the next round against Korea’s Lee Joon-Hwan.
Cavelius has a Pride flag in his Instagram bio and has spoken positively about his coming out experience within his sport, having been open with his friends and family since he was a teenager.
His profile on the official Olympics website references how he wrote about his sexuality on social media.
“I simply made a Facebook post in which I cleaned up the rumours, ‘Yes, I’m gay, but that doesn’t change the person I am’,” he said.
“I think a lot of people scare themselves about coming out. The moment I took my destiny into my own hands, nothing could happen to me.”
Despite Tuesday’s disappointment, these Games are not yet over for Cavelius. He will be among the group of judokas representing Germany in the mixed team competition on Saturday.
The Germans won mixed team bronze in Tokyo three years ago.
Also on Tuesday, Robbie Manson qualified for his first Olympic rowing final on his third appearance at a Games.
Manson and his double sculls partner Jordan Parry placed third in their semifinal, behind Germany and the United States. That was enough to put them into the ‘A’ final on Thursday.
Manson has been a firm Outsports favorite since coming out publicly as gay nearly a decade ago.
He also competed in double sculls at his last Olympics, with Chris Harris at Rio 2016, but they didn’t make it to the ‘A’ final. It was a similar story for Manson at London 2012, when he was part of the Kiwi quadruple sculls team.
Manson and Parry won World Cup double sculls bronze last month so will have high hopes of getting on the podium on Thursday.
Emma Twigg, also representing both Team NZ and Team LGBTQ, won her single sculls quarterfinal at Vaires-sur-Marne to progress through to the semis.
The reigning Olympic champion, 37, is competing at her fifth Games.
