Olympics: My Lovely Horse

...But, turning to the Daily Mail's coverage of the dressage team, is something of much more concern. In a sidebar to its report are the profiles of the two female members of the team - Laura Bechtolsheimer and Charlotte Dujardin.
Their male teammate, Carl Hester, is rightly described as a four-time Olympian. It goes on to tell how he encouraged Charlotte, who lives in a cottage on his equestrian estate, to ride, adding:

"Hester, who is gay, allowed her to ride his young horse, Valegro, as a novice, planning to ride the animal himself when he reached international standard."

What? Who is gay? What was the point of that? How did it creep in, and why?

Roy Greenslade writing on his Guardian Media blog. 
Seeing as Carl Hester is one of only two out gay men in the Olympics it is of note, though of no relevance to this story.
But I'm sure the Mail had their reasons.

Olympics: Those Out Gay Athletes In Full

1. Carl Hester, British equestrian.
2. Matthew Mitcham, Australian diver.
3. Err, that's it.

According to OutSports.

OutSports say they also know of 19 female athetes who are out:
Marilyn Agliotti (Netherlands, field hockey); Judith Arndt (Germany, cycling); Seimone Augustus (U.S., basketball); Natalie Cook (Australia, beach volleyball); Lisa Dahlkvist (Sweden, soccer); Carlien Dirkse van den Heuvel (Netherlands, field hockey); Imke Duplitzer (Germany, fencing); Edward Gal (Netherlands, equestrian); Jessica Harrison (France, triathlon); Alexandra Lacrabère (France, handball); Jessica Landström (Sweden, soccer); Hedvig Lindahl (Sweden, soccer); Maartje Paumen (Netherlands, field hockey); Carole Péon (France, triathlon); Mayssa Pessoa (Brazil, handball); Megan Rapinoe (U.S. soccer); Lisa Raymond (U.S., doubles tennis); Rikke Skov (Denmark, handball); Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Germany, cycling).

11,000 athletes are competing in the London Olympics.
This suggests only 1 in 520 is out.
Or 1 in 3,000 men.

• Carl Hester is interviewed in the current issue of Attitude.