Judith Arndt first out lesbian to medal in London Olympics

BY NATASHA BARSOTTI – German cyclist Judith Arndt became the first out lesbian to win a medal at the London Games, winning silver in the time trials Aug 1.

“I’m really happy with the silver medal. Of course, my goal was to win gold, but if you would have asked me yesterday, I would have named Kristin [Armstrong] as favourite for today,” Arndt said, according to shewired.com.

Armstrong, an American, won gold in the event, while Russian Olga Zabelinskaya took bronze.

Arndt, who is one of at least 23 openly gay athletes at the Summer Games, is competing in her fifth Olympics.

The German now turns her focus to the team pursuit event today.

Natasha Barsotti is originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She had high aspirations of representing her country in Olympic Games sprint events, but after a while the firing of the starting gun proved too much for her nerves. So she went off to university instead. Her first professional love has always been journalism. After pursuing a Master of Journalism at UBC , she began freelancing at Xtra West — now Xtra Vancouver — in 2006, becoming a full-time reporter there in 2008.

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