Five-time Olympic ice hockey player Hilary Knight is the captain of Team USA this year. – Photo: Hilary-Knight.com
At least three players on the U.S. women’s hockey team set to compete at next month’s Winter Olympics in northern Italy are LGBTQ, according to the LGBTQ sports website Outsports.
Hilary Knight, a 36-year-old forward and four-time Olympic medalist, is the team’s captain. Her medals include gold at the 2018 PyeongChang Games and silver in 2010, 2014, and 2022.
Knight also captains the Seattle Torrent in the Professional Women’s Hockey League and will become the first U.S. hockey player to compete in five Olympic Games. She previously captained the U.S. Women’s National Team at the 2024 World Championships.
She officially came out as LGBTQ a few months after the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, telling The Athletic that she felt the “overarching” nature of the term “queer” best described her sexual orientation.
Knight is currently dating two-time Olympic bronze medalist and U.S. speed skater Brittany Bowe, who qualified for the Olympics in the 1500- and 1000-meter long-track speed skating events. The couple lives in Salt Lake City.
Two other known LGBTQ members of the 23-player U.S. hockey team for the Milano Cortina Games are forward Alex Carpenter, 31, and defender Cayla Barnes, 27. Both also play for the Seattle Torrent in the PWHL.
Carpenter, a veteran of the silver medal-winning hockey teams at the 2010 Sochi and 2022 Beijing Games, is married to Steph Klein, a former goaltender who now works as an assistant equipment manager for the Toronto Marlies. The couple wed in Hawaii in 2023.
Barnes, who was the youngest player on the gold medal-winning hockey squad at the 2018 PyeongChang Games, has been dating her girlfriend, Hope Walinski, the goaltender for the Providence College women’s hockey team, for about three years.
Speaking to NBC last summer, Knight reflected on the significance of being an out athlete and the importance of visibility for queer athletes who may not otherwise see themselves represented in professional sports.
“I think it’s awesome that we have these great feats on ice and that also brings visibility and more storytelling to the space that is underrepresented in many ways,” she said.
She also reflected on her relationship with Bowe, whom she credits with helping her come out, and on the historical significance of two out female Olympians being in a relationship. She told NBC that she hopes “our story can have a small impact on someone in a positive way.”
The U.S. women’s hockey team, considered one of the favorites for gold at the upcoming Milano Cortina Games, will open the Olympic tournament on February 5 against Czechia. Team USA will play four group-stage games before advancing to the quarterfinals, with the final and all medal-round games set for February 19.
Timo Cavelius, a Judo Grand Slam medalist who became the first openly gay man to compete in judo at the Olympics during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, was hospitalized and underwent surgery after being assaulted by his opponent while celebrating his victory during a team match in Leipzig, Germany.
The 29-year-old German national faced Akaki Japaridze, a guest judoka competing for JC Leipzig in the under-198-pound category, in two matches held within an hour of each other on September 5.
Japaridze, a 24-year-old Georgian national, won the first match, but Cavelius prevailed in the second with an ippon, the equivalent of a knockout in judo. After being declared the victor, Cavelius celebrated with a fist pump, which appeared to anger Japaridze, who attacked Cavelius, striking him in the face and continuing to punch him after he fell to the ground.
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