Judo is one of the most unforgiving sports and Timo Kavelius was certainly reminded of that on Tuesday.
The German made his Olympic debut in Paris and made a bit of LGBTQ team history as the first openly gay male judoka to compete in the Olympics.
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But the 27-year-old, who normally works for the Bavarian state police, now faces a tough draw in the 81kg class in a 32-round bout against a former world champion.
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Cavelius seemed to be dominating Sagi Muki, but the Israeli caught a glimpse of a submission that would seal the victory and he executed it perfectly.
Cavelius was visibly shocked and left the Champs de Mars arena lying on the mat with his hands up.
Muki faces a similar fate in the next round when he faces South Korea’s Lee Junhwan.
Kavelius has a Pride flag on his Instagram profile and has spoken positively about his experience coming out in sports, which he has been open about with friends and family since he was a teenager.
His profile on the official Olympic website details how he has written about his sexual orientation on social media.
“I just posted on Facebook to dispel the rumours: ‘Yes, I am gay but it doesn’t change who I am,'” he said.
“I think a lot of people are scared to come out. The moment I take my fate into my own hands, nothing can happen to me.”
Despite Tuesday’s disappointing result, the tournament isn’t over for Cabelius, who will be one of the judokas representing Germany in the mixed team event on Saturday.
Germany won the bronze medal in the mixed team event in Tokyo three years ago.
Manson has a chance at medal
Also on Tuesday, Robbie Manson advanced to his first Olympic rowing final in his third Olympic Games.
Manson and double sculls partner Jordan Parry placed third in the semifinals behind Germany and the United States, securing a place in Thursday’s A-final.
Manson has been a stalwart and popular figure in outsports since coming out as gay nearly 10 years ago.
He also competed in the double sculls with Chris Harris at the last Olympic Games in Rio 2016, but failed to reach the A-final. Manson had a similar experience at the 2012 London Games, when he was part of the New Zealand quadruple sculls team.
Manson and Parry won bronze in the World Cup double sculls last month and will have high hopes of reaching the podium on Thursday.
Emma Twigg, representing both Team NZ and Team LGBTQ, won her single sculls quarter-final in Vers-sur-Marne to advance to the semi-finals.
The 37-year-old, the reigning Olympic champion, will be competing in his fifth Olympic Games.
