Team GB hockey players become first same-sex married couple to make it to an Olympic final
Kate and Helen Richardson-Walsh will face off against the Netherlands in this evening’s final.
Two team GB hockey players have spoken of their pride after becoming the first same-sex married couple to make it to an Olympic final together.
Kate Richardson- Walsh, the team captain, said it will be a “really special” moment to stand on the podium next to her wife Helen, with Great Britain guaranteed at least a silver this evening.
The pair recently became the first married couple to play together on the same team at the Olympics and the first married couple since 1900 to win medals on the same team.
Defying the odds, skipper Kate, 36, retired in 2014 but decided to make a comeback for Rio, whilst Helen is competing despite two lots of back surgery in 12 months.
They previously won a bronze in the London 2012 games, but this time, the ladies are going for gold and won’t let anything stand in their way.
“It would be really special [to win gold]. We’ve been through ups and downs,” Kate added.
“I would really love to go out with a bang and stand on top of that podium and sing the national anthem and be one of those people.”
The pair previously said that they want their sexuality and relationship to be seen as “a normal thing”.
“We’re not out there shouting it, it’s just part and parcel of who we are,” Kate said.
Helen added: “If you are really open about it, people say, ‘Why do you make such a big deal about it?’
“When people say ‘you’ve helped me come out to my parents’ or ‘deal with my own sexuality’ it’s really powerful.”
History was made again last week, when a lesbian couple got engaged at the Rio Games – the first to do so.
This year’s Olympic games features a record number of out LGBT athletes, with an estimated 42 LGBT athletes set to compete.
