Team LGBTQIA+ Just Had Its Best Winter Olympics Ever
Milan, Italy handed the world a lot of moments worth remembering at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. For the LGBTQIA+ community, it delivered something historic.
Of the 49 publicly out athletes who competed, 19 came home with medals. Five gold, two silver, and four bronze, totalling 11 medals across multiple sports. According to OutSports, the LGBTQIA+ sports media brand that tracks what it calls “Team LGBTQIA+,” this is the most medals ever won by out queer athletes at any Winter Games. If they counted as their own nation, they would have placed 13th on the overall medal table.
Gold: the wins that mattered most
Bisexual alpine skier Breezy Johnson made history as the first out LGBTQIA+ athlete to win gold at these Games, finishing first in the women’s downhill after missing her 2022 Olympic debut due to injury. She qualified in Beijing but never got on the snow. In Milan, she made up for lost time. Johnson also got engaged to her partner, Connor Watkins while still in Italy, which is a solid way to wrap up the Games.
Pansexual figure skater Amber Glenn picked up gold as part of Team USA’s figure skating team event. It was her first Olympic medal and her first Games. She wore a Pride pin at the medal ceremony, days after receiving threats on social media for speaking publicly about LGBTQIA+ rights. “I was disappointed because I’ve never had so many people wish me harm before, just for being me,” Glenn told the Associated Press.
Gay French ice dancer Guillaume Cizeron and his partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry took gold in ice dance despite controversy surrounding the judging.
Rounding out the gold haul were three out members of Team USA’s women’s ice hockey squad: Hilary Knight, Cayla Barnes and Alex Carpenter, who defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime. Knight scored her 14th Olympic goal during the tournament, tying the American record. Swiss freestyle skier Mathilde Gremaud also claimed gold in Women’s Slopestyle.
Silver and bronze deserve their moment too
British curler Bruce Mouat took silver. Six out members of Canada’s women’s ice hockey team also went home with silver after that overtime loss to the US. On the bronze side: Canadian ice dancer Paul Poirier, Swiss ice hockey player Laura Zimmermann, Swedish freestyle skier Sandra Naeslund, and Belgian speed skater Tineke den Dulk.
History made beyond the podium
Swedish moguls skier Elis Lundholm became the first trans man to compete in Winter Olympics history. That deserves far more attention than it got. And in what might be the most wholesome news of the Games, Knight proposed to speed skater Brittany Bowe the night before the gold medal hockey match. She then went out and won.
Cyd Zeigler, co-founder of OutSports, put it simply: “These numbers are a testament to the courage of so many athletes, and a reflection of a major shift in acceptance in sports.”
Hard to argue with that.
