At least 44 out LGBTQ athletes will compete at the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics, setting a record for a Winter Games, according to the LGBTQ sports news site Outsports.
The Games, which officially kick off on Friday, February 6, will feature 34 out women and 10 out men — a roughly 7-to-2 ratio that is significantly lower than the 9-to-1 ratio seen at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
According to Outsports, the lower ratio reflects the fact that the Winter Olympics feature fewer team sports, where out female athletes are more common. In Milan, 22 of the 34 out women are ice hockey players, making hockey the sport with the largest LGBTQ presence.
Figure skating is the only major sport at this year’s Games in which out male athletes outnumber women, with six men and one woman competing — three-time U.S. women’s figure skating champion Amber Glenn.
Other sports with out athletes include Alpine and freestyle skiing, with six competitors; speed skating, with four; skeleton, with two; and snowboarding, curling, and biathlon, each with one out athlete.
The out athletes competing in the Games represent 13 different countries.
Eight American athletes — about 3% of Team USA — are out, including seven women and one man, speedskater Conor McDermott-Mostowy.
There is one out transgender athlete competing at the Games — the first in Winter Olympics history: Ellis Lundholm of Sweden, a moguls skier.
Despite a global backlash against LGBTQ visibility amid the rise of right-wing populist movements, the number of out athletes at the Winter Olympics has continued to grow — from seven in 2014 to 15 in 2018 and 36 in 2022, according to Outsports.
The Summer Olympics typically feature far more out LGBTQ athletes, with 199 competing at the 2024 Paris Games.
Based on past precedent, the final tally is likely to grow as the Games continue, as some athletes who are more circumspect about their sexual orientation or gender identity are added over time.
Notably, according to Outsports, out male athletes — who remain fewer overall — have typically come out publicly. By contrast, many female competitors, including some in same-sex marriages or long-term relationships, are more likely to avoid explicitly labeling their identity, often requiring extensive social media research and reporting across multiple outlets to confirm whether an athlete identifies as LGBTQ.
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.
Same-sex pairs will be permitted to compete in British ice dance events, British Ice Skating -- the national governing body of figure skating, synchronized skating, and speed skating -- announced last week.
However, same-sex pairs will only be allowed to compete at the national level, as International Skating Union rules require pair and dance teams to be made up of one man and one woman, reports The Guardian.
The rule change was announced as part of British Ice Skating's updated championship requirements for the 2026-2027 season. The move follows similar changes adopted by Canada and Finland, with Canada becoming the first country to allow skaters of any gender to form a competitive pair or ice dance team in 2022.
USA Hockey has quietly adopted a new policy barring transgender athletes from participating in single-sex programs that do not align with their assigned sex at birth.
On November 15, 2025, the organization approved a participant eligibility policy requiring that in any programs restricted by sex -- including adult recreational "beer" leagues -- athletes may only compete against others of the same biological sex, according to The Athletic.
Under the policy, transgender men who have undergone hormone therapy are barred from competing in both men’s leagues and women’s leagues at the high school or adult levels.
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