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 Matthew Mitcham
NBC came under fire from LGBT activists this week because the broadcaster failed to mention Mitcham's sexuality even though they covered other athletes' personal stories in depth.
Cyd Zeigler of Outssports told London's Pink News, "It's a big story. The only openly gay male athlete in Beijing pulled off one of the great upsets at the Olympics in a spectacular fashion.
"If he had had cancer, or if his parents had been killed in a car crash when he was 2, or if he had just proposed to his girlfriend, they would have mentioned it. But they never showed him hugging his boyfriend, never mentioned it. They referred to 'personal problems,' but I'm afraid they decided Matthew’s sexuality was off limits. A real shame."
Initially NBC denied there had been any bias in its reporting, claiming it was not possible to cover every athlete at the Olympics in detail. But gay blogs and internet sites immediately responded that NBC had devoted a lot of time to fiancés and family members of athletes, and that it had erred in not showing Mitcham run into the stands to embrace his mother and his partner Lachlan.
NBC's head of Olympics Gary Zenkel responded to the embarrassing criticism, telling gay website AfterElton.com, "We regret that we missed the opportunity to tell Matthew Mitcham's story.
"We apologise for this unintentional omission."
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