Tokyo 2020: Italian archer Lucilla Boari comes out after historic bronze medal win
The athlete received an adorable message from her girlfriend after becoming Italy's first medalist in archery.
Words: Alastair James; pictures: YouTube
Italian archery star Lucilla Boari came out during a press conference at the Tokyo Olympics, after winning a bronze medal in the women’s individual event on Friday (30 July).
The emotional moment came after a heartwarming message from Boari’s girlfriend, Dutch archer Saane De Laat during Boari’s chat to the press.
Clearly emotional, Boari then confirmed that De Laat was her girlfriend.
“Sanne è la mia ragazza”
Beating the USA’s Mackenzie Brown, Boari became the first Italian woman to win a medal in archery at the Olympics.
In the following press conference a video message from De Laat appeared, where she said to Boari: “Congratulations! You did super, super, super amazing and I’m super proud of you, and I can’t wait until you’re here so I can give you the biggest hug there is. I love you so much. Great job.”
Boari then says: “Saane è la mia ragazza” [English: Saane is my girlfriend).
The 24-year-old archer also discussed her medal win saying she, “made history today. It’s like carpe diem.
“I have been dreaming about this moment quite a lot, if I can be honest, and that dream just came true. I’m the happiest girl right now.”
An San from Korea and Elena Osipova, from the Russian Olympic Committee won gold and silver respectively.
The Tokyo Olympics sees a record number of openly LGBTQ athletes competing, with research from OutSports showing more than 179 LGBTQ athletes at the games. Outsports also says that if all the LGBTQ athletes competed as a nation, they would currently be in 7th place.
Congrats to Lucilla on two counts!
Watch the endearing moment from Lucilla Boari’s press conference below.
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