The pool of potential openly gay athletes competing at the 2012 London Olympics just increased by one. Yesterday, American Gymnast Josh Dixon from Stanford University came out during an interview on the internet site OutSports. Dixon has not yet landed a berth on the U.S. Olympic team, but his performance at the U.S. Men’s Qualifier on Saturday in Colorado Springs, where he finished second overall out of 72 competitors, puts him on the fast track to wining a place on the team headed for London in July. Final qualification for the team will be held at the end of June at the Olympic Trials in San Jose, currently Dixon’s home town.

Despite the assumption by many that the ranks of male gymnasts are filled with gay men – which inadvertently provides a few laughs when headlines appear such as the recent “Dalton Tops Leyva” – if Joshua continues performing well he could be the first out gay male competing gymnast in Olympic History. (Openly gay Dutch gymnast Jeffrey Wammes’ Olympic future is hanging in the balance; whether he or teammate Epke Zonderland will fill his country’s sole gymnastics spot at the Olympics will probably be decided at the European Championships later this month.)

Male gymnastics has always been considered by many to be a gay sport. Athletes who compete in the events, both straight and gay, are mindful of their chosen sport’s rep and few elite gymnasts have been open about their sexuality. Australian Ji Wallace, the silver medalist in trampoline at the 2000 Games, did not feel comfortable about coming out until five years after his participation at the Olympics. But since then Wallace says he has encountered nothing that has hurt him or made him feel alienated.

“You hear stories all the time about hatred and problems,” he says. “But nothing has been said about me. At least I haven’t heard anything, and there hasn’t been an incident I would consider homophobic.”

Brandon Triche, a former nationally ranked gymnast and author of The Life of a Gay Gymnast, says the public perception of male gymnasts as more likely to be gay arises, “because any time a male’s wearing a leotard they think ‘feminine.’” The result, he said, is that among straight gymnasts in the locker room “there’s so much chick talk because they’re afraid they might be perceived as being gay.”

This ultra-macho posturing even extends to the gymnasts who are gay, he said. “A lot of people who are gay pass themselves off as straight.”

There are probably no more gay males in gymnastics than in the general population, in Triche’s estimation. When he decided to come out to his teammates and family, he says what was striking was that it was a non-issue. It’s generally been no big deal for the team,” Triche said. “Maybe it’s because I’m so vocal about it. I don’t hold back for anybody. ”

But Triche also says that many within the sport remain closeted, fearful of the reception they may receive by announcing their homosexuality. ”They’re so scared to come out,” Triche said of one fellow gymnast and closeted athletes in general. ”They don’t realize a lot of people don’t care. If you’re 100% honest and don’t show any fear, they’ll be 100% cool with it.”

While those gymnasts who have in the past come out without facing a backlash, doing so at the level of competition Dixon performs at is still a big step. But then for Dixon, who says he has had crushes on men since he hit puberty, his sexuality may not have been that big of a secret. When asked a series of “Get To Know Joshua” questions for his Stanford Team bio page he replied ‘Morgan Freeman’ as to his favorite actor. His favorite actress was a bit more difficult to pin down, “I’m not quite sure,” was his response. And his sole participation on Twitter about this year’s Super Bowl was that Tom Brady was better looking than Eli Manning.

But then by his sophomore year at Stanford he’d already started opening up about his preference for men. That year one of his best friends, a gymnast from The University of Illinois, came out to Josh and Dixon reciprocated. The following year he began dating another gay varsity athlete at Standford and when his teammates took notice of the pair, Dixon did not attempt to hide his relationship. He says his teammates were totally cool with him being gay. Josh feels his willingness to talk openly about his sexuality is what his teammates respond to.

It didn’t take long for the word to spread. “A lot of guys in the gymnastics community talk,” says Dixon. His roommate at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs last winter asked him if the rumors were true, and when Dixon confirmed that he was gay his fellow gymnast’s only response was, “That’s cool.”

The 21-year-old says he has not had a single negative response “in any way, shape or form” to his being openly gay. If anything, the only homophobia he has encountered has been from within himself. Dixon believes his sexual orientation is a plus, as it now makes him stand out more at the elite level. While he stands out, he isn’t the only gay gymnast he says. Josh knows of at least three more still competing in college, and that he is not the only elite-level American gymnast who is gay either.

There is, however, some concern he might be judged for his sexuality more than for his performance during competitions. Like with ice skating and diving, gymnastics are based on judge’s scores. Some feel the perceived sexual orientation of figure skater Johnny Weir hurt him at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Others point to openly gay diver Matthew Mitcham, who posted the highest-scoring dive in Olympic history at the Beijing Games. But Dixon is not concerned. “This would never affect how I’m judged or my position on the U.S. Olympic team,” he says.

As a seven-time All American and four-time member of the USA Junior National Team, Dixon’s performances over the coming two months should alone be enough to earn him a coveted spot of the U.S. Olympic Team. He already has been named to the National Team after placing sixth in the all-around at the 2011 Winter Cup Challenge held in Las Vegas a year ago in February. Josh was one of four gymnasts to be added to the team at that competition. And as he often does, he passed the credit on to his teammates.

“Really, day two of competition was a highlight in itself,” Dixon said. “Our Stanford group had an entire rotation to itself, and we were nailing routine after routine . . . We really had the luxury of treating it like a team-format competition simply because we had the numbers and we were all familiar with the guy going before and after us. In such an ‘individual competition,’ having a group of teammates around you is a major advantage.”

Undoubtedly being on a medal winning team does much toward boosting your confidence and skill levels. Stanford University has won the NCAA team Championships in both 2009 and 2011. And in 2010, Dixon himself was the champion in the men’s floor exercise. At last weekend’s Qualifier he tied for a win in that event and also on the high bar, as well as finishing second all-around.

Dixon began his career at the age of six. “Both of my sisters did gymnastics in their early years and I just couldn’t resist the temptation to try a little of what I saw them doing in practice It was usually in the backyard on the grass and would make my parents pretty nervous,” he says. “ Then came enrollment in early team classes and things just progressed from there.”

Dixon and his two sisters, Kira and Mikka, who share the same mother though they have never met her, were all adopted at birth by Michael and Kathy Dixon. Josh is half-black and half-Japanese, while his father Michael is white and his mother Kathy is Japanese. His family’s involvement in the sport led Josh to his first medal win in 2002 at the Future Stars Championship, a mere five years after he began training. Every year since then he has been a winning competitor in national gymnastic events, frequently placing at the top of the podium in the floor exercise as he did at last weekend’s competition. Now, the Olympics are in his sight and making the Olympic team is his goal.

“The number of guys who make the team is less than what it was before and the format in team finals places importance on being really good on several events,” he says. “For now, the most important thing would be to stay healthy and keep training hard/smart for the next year.”

Despite an injury to his Achilles tendon last spring, Joshua’s performances are on the rise. His efforts last weekend places him and 14 of his competitors in line for the next qualification round at the 2012 Visa Championships in St. Louis – a championship he has consistently done well at in previous years. Should he prevail there he’ll move on to the Olympic Trials in San Jose, from which a five-man Olympic team will be announced.

The 5’9” hottie is currently majoring in Science Technology & Society, though he has a strong interest in sports medicine and says it is his favorite subject at school. “After gym I want to attend medical school,” Dixon says. “ I had been going back and forth with that decision for a while; however, now I know that’s what I want to do. Sports medicine is something that I love but I’ve got some work to do to finish the pre-med curriculum.”

With the Olympics less than 100 days away, however, it’s all “Eat, sleep, train and do homework,” say Joshua. But that’s not new. Since taking up the sport, gymnastics has been the constant in his life. “Gymnastics was my number one priority,” he says of his early years, adding, “and if something got in the way of that I had to push it aside.”

Today, his favorite pre-meet rituals are routine visualization and listening to his iPod. Joshua says the best advice he’s ever received is: The pain of regret is worse than that pain of hard work. Coming out in the midst of Olympic qualifications is a big step, one that hopefully Josh will not regret. Regardless, his hard work may well pay off and we’ll get to watch him compete in London come July.

——————– UPDATE ——————–

oshua competed for a spot on the Olympic Team at the Trials held the last weekend in June. He placed 13th overall and was not selected to represent the USA in London. But he sure was looking fine:

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