Ian Carlos Gonçalves de Matos. (Photo via Instagram)
Openly Out Brazilian diving champion Ian Carlos Gonçalves de Matos died Dec. 21 from a non-COVID-related lung infection.
The 32-year-old athlete who had competed in the men’s synchronized 3-metre springboard at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where he and diving partner Luiz Outerelo finished 8th, previously had won three bronze medals at the 2010 South American Games.
“We are profoundly saddened to have received the news of the premature death of the Olympic diver Ian Matos, aged just 32,” Brazil’s Olympic Committee said in a statement. “Team Brazil acknowledges his contribution to the evolution of the discipline. Our sincere condolences to his family and friends.”
Matos had sought medical treatment for a throat infection in October which then worsened and spread to his lungs; He was later hospitalized.
The diver, during a 2014 interview in Brazilian media, revealed he was gay saying he had been inspired to do so after seeing the 2013 YouTube coming out video of British Olympic champion diver Tom Daley.
Matos said that the pressure to remain closeted had been unbearable and there was added pressure from those close to him to delay his announcement until after the 2016 Summer Olympic games in his home city of Rio de Janeiro over fears of losing sponsors.
Matos was a participant in the United Nations’ ‘Free and Equal’ campaign, which calls for fair and equitable treatment of the LGBTQ community across the world.
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