26 out women won olympic gold for team usa. one proposed the day before the final, then tied it with two minutes left.
via Olympedia, NPR, Sports Illustrated, NBC News, the Washington Blade and the outlets linked in each entry
Twenty-six. That is how many women we could find who won Olympic gold for the United States and have said, in their own words, on the record, that they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer or pansexual, or who have talked publicly about the woman they love. We checked every medal against Olympedia's results database and threw out every name that only had a rumor, a fan wiki or somebody else's Instagram caption behind it.
When we did this for gay men with gold, the whole world came to fifteen. One country's women beat that by eleven, and most of them came from two dynasties. Each woman is described in her own words. Where she has never used a label, we do not hand her one. Here they are, sport by sport, oldest gold first.
lesbian, gay and queer olympians in usa basketball
This will not shock anyone who has been to a WNBA game, including Riley Gaines.
Jennifer Azzi, 1996
Photo: Shawncalhoun via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0, taken in 2010.
Azzi won gold in Atlanta, per Olympedia. In 2016, as the University of San Francisco's coach, she came out while introducing Rick Welts, announcing that she was married to her top assistant, Blair Hardiek, per the AP and NBC Sports Bay Area. "I, too, lived a long time not being 100 percent honest," she said. Then, as the USF Foghorn tells it, she introduced Hardiek to the room: "This is my wife."
Sue Bird, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020
Photo: SusanLesch via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, taken in 2018.
Five golds, per Olympedia. She came out in 2017 in an espnW interview, per Sports Illustrated and The Advocate: "I'm gay. Megan's my girlfriend." SI reports she was close to coming out before the 2016 Rio Olympics and decided not to. The Megan is Megan Rapinoe, further down this list, and the two later got engaged, per NBC News. Ten golds between them. Imagine the trophy shelf.
Diana Taurasi, 2004 through 2024
Photo: John Mac via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0, taken in 2024.
Six golds at six straight Games, per Olympedia. She married her former Phoenix Mercury teammate Penny Taylor in 2017, per ESPN and WNBA.com. She told ESPN: "And then for whatever reason, when Penny and I started dating, things just fell into place." Six golds. Things did fall into place.
Seimone Augustus, 2008, 2012 and 2016
Photo: Danny Karwoski via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, taken in 2013.
Three golds, per Olympedia. In 2012, engaged to LaTaya Varner, she urged Minnesotans to defeat an antigay amendment, per The Advocate. They married in Hawaii in 2015 after a five-year engagement, per MPR News. In her Players' Tribune essay about it she wrote: "I knew I was gay by the time I reached middle school." And, our favorite sentence in this whole article: "I met LaTaya in a Minneapolis club."
Candace Parker, 2008 and 2012
Photo: Lorie Shaull via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, taken in 2018.
Two golds, per Olympedia. On Instagram, per TIME, she revealed that she had been married for two years to Anna Petrakova, a Russian player, per ESPN. She told TIME she was "always against ‘coming out’" because "you shouldn’t have to do that," and that she did it for her daughter: "I don’t want her to ever think that I’m ashamed or not proud of our family."
Angel McCoughtry, 2012 and 2016
Photo: Lorie Shaull via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, taken in 2018.
Two golds, per Olympedia. She came out in 2015 through her Instagram account, per Georgia Voice. Before Rio she told Out: "My fiancee has made me more comfortable with who I am, with believing in myself, with fighting for the LGBT community and supporting them." Also: "I said never again in my life will I not be who I am for anyone." Noted.
Elena Delle Donne, 2016
Photo: Dannykuconn via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, taken in 2008.
Gold in Rio, per Olympedia. She announced her engagement to Amanda Clifton in 2016, per PhillyVoice, and told NBC News the next year why she kept it simple: "I don't want people to have to have these huge coming outs anymore. It should just be the norm. I love a woman."
Breanna Stewart, 2016, 2020 and 2024
Photo: Zafer via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, taken in 2026.
Three golds, per Olympedia. She is married to former WNBA player Marta Xargay Casademont, per NBC News, which reported that the couple received homophobic threats during the 2024 WNBA Finals. In the round before, after the Liberty beat the Aces in Game 4, she said, per USA Today: "My mentality today was to go in and get this win for my wife and her dad."
Brittney Griner, 2016, 2020 and 2024
Photo: Lorie Shaull via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, taken in 2019.
Three golds, per Olympedia. In 2013 she told Sports Illustrated, per the AP: "I've always been open about who I am and my sexuality." PinkNews reported it as coming out as gay. She then became the first openly gay athlete to sign with Nike and model its apparel, per the AP.
Chelsea Gray, Tokyo 2020 and 2024
Photo: SusanLesch via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, taken in 2016.
Two golds, per Olympedia. When the Aces visited the White House in 2024 she told The Advocate: "There was a time when my wife and I couldn't come into this building." In a 2026 letter to her son in The Players' Tribune, she wrote that "it wasn’t always easy to be yourself for people like me and mama."
Stefanie Dolson, Tokyo 2020 (3x3)
Photo: Danny Karwosli via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, taken in 2015.
Dolson won 3x3 gold in Tokyo, per Olympedia, which made her the first out LGBT+ American to win gold at those Games, per PinkNews. She came out in ESPN The Magazine in 2016 without picking a word, per the Washington Blade: "I'm not attracted to someone's gender. I'm attracted to their energy as a being." So we will not pick one for her.
the uswnt's out gold medalists
Briana Scurry, 1996 and 2004
Photo: Bryan Berlin via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, taken in 2026.
Two golds in goal, per Olympedia. "I believe I’m the only Black lesbian to be on a Wheaties box," she told the Washington Blade in 2022. Looking back, she told ASU News that "the media had problems with the way I looked and the fact that I was gay." She married Chryssa Zizos in 2018, per the Blade. The Wheaties box was right on time. The media was not.
Abby Wambach, 2004 and 2012
Photo: the White House via Wikimedia Commons, public domain, taken in 2015.
Two golds, per Olympedia, and the 2012 FIFA World Player of the Year, per NPR. "I've been out in my private life for many, many years," she said in a 2013 Q&A reprinted by SoccerWire. She told NPR's Fresh Air that growing up in her small town, "I didn't want there to be any proof out there that I was gay," and that she was "not the person that's going to stand on top of a mountain and be like, I'm gay, hear me roar." She married Glennon Doyle in 2017, per Bleacher Report. No mountain needed.
Angela Hucles, 2004 and 2008
Photo: the U.S. Department of State via Wikimedia Commons, public domain, taken in 2012.
Two golds, per Olympedia. Now an owner of Angel City FC, she put it all in one sentence for Andscape: "I’m Black, I’m Cuban, I’m a woman, I’m a part of the LGBT family." She told RISMedia that growing up she felt different "being a female person of color, but also being LGBT, and not really knowing anyone who I could relate to." In 2019 she was grand marshal of Hampton Roads PrideFest, per RISMedia. Somebody to relate to, delivered.
Tobin Heath, 2008 and 2012
Photo: Pierre-Yves Beaudouin via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, taken in 2013.
Two golds, per Olympedia, plus two Women's World Cups, per NBC News. Heath said it with paint. In June 2022 she unveiled an artwork she made, letters in colorful blocks spelling out "I Am Gay," and posted a photo of herself with it on Instagram, per The Advocate and NBC News. The most efficient coming out on this list, and the only one you can hang.
Megan Rapinoe, 2012
Photo: Daniel Nickson via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0, taken in 2022.
Rapinoe told Out in July 2012, weeks before the London Games, "For the record: I am gay," per Out and the Windy City Times. Then she won gold there, per Olympedia. She also won two World Cups and got engaged to Sue Bird, per NBC News. For the record, the record holds.
Kelley O'Hara, 2012
Photo: Hameltion via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, taken in 2024.
Gold in London, per Olympedia. She kissed her girlfriend at the 2019 World Cup, in front of everyone. As she told Autostraddle: "kissing my girlfriend, now fiancée, at the World Cup in 2019 was such a shock to people." The girlfriend is Kameryn Stanhouse, and their engagement was announced in 2023, per The Advocate.
Tierna Davidson, 2024
Photo: Hameltion via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, taken in 2024.
Gold in Paris, per Olympedia. Before the Games, asked about a teammate's past anti-LGBTQ posts, she told Sports Illustrated: "I feel like I want to be able to represent the queer community really well on this team." To The Athletic, per PinkNews, she said she wants people who "look up to queer athletes and see themselves in me."
Jane Campbell, 2024
Campbell went to Paris as an alternate and came home with a gold, per Olympedia. She did not play a minute, and the medal still counts. She told the Houston Chronicle why she stayed in Houston: "that was a big reason why me and my wife decided to stay." Her wife is former Dash player Christine Nairn, per the Chronicle.
queer olympians on ice and snow
Meghan Duggan, 2018
Photo: _becaro_ via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0, taken in 2011.
Duggan captained the U.S. to gold in PyeongChang, per Olympedia and ABC7 New York, then married her former rival Gillian Apps, per NBC News. When the New Jersey Devils hired her, ABC7 reported she was believed to be the first openly gay person to work in NHL hockey operations. She told NHL.com: "I'm a woman, I'm a gay woman." The rivalry, resolved.
Hilary Knight, 2018 and 2026
Photo: U.S. Mission Korea via Wikimedia Commons, public domain, taken in 2018.
Two golds, per Olympedia. "I'm a part of the queer community and I think it's awesome that we have these great feats on ice," she told NBC Olympics, and she told The Athletic that the "overarching" term queer fits her best, per Metro Weekly. In Milan this February, the day before the final, she posted a video of herself proposing to speed skater Brittany Bowe. Then, as captain, she tied the final with just over two minutes left and the U.S. beat Canada 2-1 in overtime, per Reuters via NBC News. "I think I was more nervous for the proposal than I was for the gold medal game to be honest." Icon behavior.
Breezy Johnson, 2026
Photo: Stefan Brending (2eight) via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, taken in 2017.
Downhill gold at Milan-Cortina, per Olympedia. In 2022 she posted, per Hello! and Team USA: "So I'm bisexual. Before this season starts I wanted to be open about who I am." She told Team USA why: "growing up there weren’t people like me out there and the straight white ski racing world is large." It just got a little smaller.
Amber Glenn, 2026
Photo: SpiritedMichelle via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, taken in 2026.
Gold in the team event at Milan-Cortina, per Olympedia. She came out as pansexual in 2019, which is still how she describes herself, per The Guardian, and explained it there: "Pansexuals are gender-blind." She became the first out LGBTQ woman to win the U.S. women's figure skating title, per NBC News. In a sport that hands out points for artistry, finally some honesty in the scoring.
on the court, the track and the fencing strip
Haleigh Washington, Tokyo 2020
Photo: Lega Pallavolo via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, taken in 2022.
Washington helped win the U.S. women's first-ever volleyball gold and was named the tournament's best middle blocker, per Olympedia and Outsports. She had already tweeted the important part, per Outsports: "I am not cuffing my pants because I am tall, I am cuffing my pants because I am BISEXUAL!!!" Autostraddle counted her among the LGBTQ+ women medalists in Paris too, where she took silver. The cuff is the flag.
Sha'Carri Richardson, 2024
Photo: jenaragon94 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0, taken in 2021.
Gold in the 4x100 relay in Paris, per Olympedia. In 2015 she tweeted "my family know I’m bi," and in 2021 she told the Orange County Register, both per Hola! USA: "My girlfriend picked this color because it’s loud and, honestly, dangerous." She meant the hair, for the Olympic trials. PinkNews quotes Vogue noting that her personal life is now off-limits, and we will leave it there.
Lauren Scruggs, 2024
Gold in team foil in Paris, per Olympedia, and a silver in the individual event, the first individual fencing medal by a Black American woman, per NBC News. Before the Games she told Outsports about her girlfriend: "She’s been very supportive of my fencing career." And to NBC: "Hopefully people like me who identify similar to me feel that this sport is the place for them." Sword in hand, girlfriend in the stands.
who we left off, and why
Other lists of LGBTQ Olympians name more American gold medalists than this one. Some of those women are married to women, or have been photographed with partners, but we could not find them saying anything about it in their own words on a page we could read, so they are not here yet. That is our rule, not a judgment on them. A few others said something once and have since described themselves differently, and we go by what a person says now. If you are one of those women and want to be on this page, or know an interview we missed, tell us. The men's list is here. For somewhere to raise a glass to all twenty-six, try one of the 33 lesbian bars left in America.
