Paralympian comes out as gay after medal-winning event

Dimitri Pavade, a Paralympic long jumper representing France, celebrated his bronze medal-winning performance at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, France, by coming out as gay.

The 35-year-old athlete from a small island in the Indian Ocean was fresh off his performance in the men’s long jump T64 event where he took fourth place.

“Yes, I am SMALL, MIXED-RACED, ONE-LEGGED, and to add insult to injury, GAY!!!!!!,” Pavade posted to Instagram on Saturday in French.

Describing his life as “ordinary,” Pavade said he let himself be “carried by the wind” and live his life in the moment. But he described his victory and being part of the French national Paralympics team in more seminal terms.

“Today I was able to find my way and give meaning to what I accomplish every day ‘wanting to be the icon of people with disabilities,’” he wrote.

He explained he had little time for people who could not accept his physical or sexual identity, describing them as “not worthy” of love from the community.

“Life is too short to give importance to this kind of individual,” he wrote.

Pavade explained his next fight in life.

“Now I have a second fight to lead with my LGBTQIA+ community and I hope to give strength and courage also to the people still in the closet or to these high-level sportsmen who do not dare to live openly and freely this freedom that is rightfully ours,” Pavade wrote.

Pavade was born and raised on La Réunion, an island in the Indian Ocean around 420 east of Madagascar and a French overseas territory. He described his family as “small and normal” to Olympics.com in 2023, with his mother working as a maid and his father as a bricklayer. When Pavade turned 18, he found work on the docks to help contribute to the family’s finances.

“In December 2007, I started a docker job and twelve days later, I had my accident. An eighteen-ton forklift truck rolled on my leg. My life changed dramatically.”

His initial goal was not to participate in the Paralympics but to learn to stand and walk again. Six months later and fitted with a prosthetic limb, he found work at a supermarket and put himself through college. In 2013, he moved to France to take training to become a prosthetist and help others who had lost limbs.

While working as an intern in the industry in 2015, Pavade met the company’s CEO who was intrigued by Pavade’s musculature. He encouraged the young man to compete in para-athletics.

Pavade debuted as a para-athlete in 2016 and won two gold medals the following year at the Francophone Games. He won a silver medal in the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, and took home a bronze medal at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, France.

Pavade competes in the T64 category, which is for athletes who have moderately impacted ability in a single lower leg or who are missing one or both legs below the knee.