Timo Cavelius makes history as first openly gay fighter to win German judo championship
increasing number of LGBTQ+ athletes participating in the prestigious competition.While Cavelius has been out to family and friends since he was 15, his public coming out in judo came later, in 2020.
Talking about his experience to German newspaper Bento, he said: “In sport, the topic was taboo for me for a long time, not only because I had repeatedly read horror stories in the media about athletes coming out.
In my team, we were all pubescent boys who still wanted to prove their masculinity.”A post shared by Timo Cavelius (@timo_cavelius)“Judo is also a very physical sport; after all, you throw each other around and you’re incredibly close in ground fighting.
I was afraid that the others would no longer take me seriously,” he explained.“I had a kind of pivotal experience when I spoke to our sports psychologist about my sexuality for the first time,” Cavelius said, speaking to OutSports. “She didn’t try to push me in any direction, but made it clear that the choice was entirely mine.
