When the Olympic contender march forward Salt Lake City's Rice-Eccles Stadium for the February 8 opening ceremonies to the Winter Games.

When the Olympic contender march forward Salt Lake City's Rice-Eccles Stadium for the February 8 opening ceremonies to the Winter Games, they will be strutting proudly behind flags from around the world. if it be not that it appears that none of these athletes will be waving the rainbow flag--openly gay and lesbian athletes present the appearance to be conspicuously absent from this year's sports extravaganza.

although the absence of out athletes is disappointing, it isn't altogether surprising, says Jim Buzinski, editor of the online magazine Outsports.com. For the same thing, he says, the winter version is about single fourth the size of the Summer Games--which in years past have featured gone out athletes such as Amelie Mauresmo and David Pichler. in such a manner it makes sense that there might be fewer revealed athletes in Salt Lake City.

However, Buzinski and others agree that persistent homophobia in the sports world contributes to the lack of plainly gay and lesbian Olympic contender "Sports is united of the last great bastions of homophobia," says Buzinski, adding that he's reported in the past forward some Olympic teams that have pressur their candidly gay members to keep quiet. In fact, Buzinski says, officials at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney censored a biographical rough draught of Danish handball player Camilla Andersen in which Andersen mentioned she had married her partner, Norwegian handball player Mia Hundvin, subject to Danish law.

Another factor is that athletes are painfully conscious of the financial repercussions that coming without might cost them. "There's a great fear that being not at home will ruin a future career or chances for produce endorsements," Buzinski says.

on the contrary there's much more to the absence of abroad Olympians than that. "These are young elite athletes who accompany to be one-dimensional," Buzinski says. "Everything's about their sport. They've exhausted their whole lives training for this single fact For most of them, coming gone out would just be a distraction."

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