Tom Daley, Great Britain’s openly gay diving champion, was front-page news across the U.K. after he and his synchronized diving partner Daniel Goodfellow won the bronze medal at the Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
But in what is an ironic twist on the shameful past practice of cropping out gay athletes from mainstream media, most of the British papers focused their coverage not on the pair but solely on Daley.
Congrats to Tom Daley (and his synchro partner Dan Goodfellow, who seems to be getting cropped out of the story): pic.twitter.com/DEizCZT14s
— The Media Tweets (@TheMediaTweets) August 8, 2016
According to PinkNews, the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail and the Daily Express led their coverage with an image of Daley alone — while Goodfellow was identified only as his “synchronised partner” in the Times.
“I am very surprised by this photo. Is it for real?” asked Goodfellow’s mother, who joined the Twitterverse in its bashing of the straightwashing.
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At least the official Twitter account of Team GB got it right.
A dramatic #diving final sees @TomDaley1994 and @dangoodfellow win bronze! #BringOnTheGreat https://t.co/gSHF7n0Sjj pic.twitter.com/m5db5A0fJd
— Team GB (@TeamGB) August 8, 2016
“Oh my God!” Daley shouted after winning the bronze, reported Outsports. After the scores were announced, Daley and Goodfellow hugged, then jumped into the pool together. Watch video of that moment shared on Twitter, below.
Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow win Bronze for diving at the Rio Olympics! Well done @TomDaley1994 #TeamGB pic.twitter.com/3KZdaHVg1c
— Scott Campbell (@stenchmobile) August 8, 2016
Goodfellow proved himself to be a good fellow in not acknowledging the snub via social media.
Words can't describe how I'm feeling right now ! A dream come true , Olympic bronze medal with @TomDaley1994 :))!! pic.twitter.com/C7ago1Hrfr
— Daniel Goodfellow (@danngoodfellow) August 9, 2016
Readers looking to make up for the Goodfellow deficit turned to Gay Star News where 16 bodacious Instagram snaps appeared. Here’s just one:
Daley is engaged to be married to screenwriter Dustin Lance Black. He’s one of 43 out LGBTQ athletes competing in the games.