'Abby Wambach Lesbian,' 'Ian Thorpe Boyfriend' And Other Gay Olympic Searches

It's always fun to see how readers find Outsports, and during the Olympics there's always a rainbow of fun results. The search terms from places like Google and Yahoo! are the best. Things like "Matthew Mitcham nude" (wishful thinking) and "Bjorn Barrefors naked" (again, really?) make us chuckle.

There's also a boatload of gay speculation that creeps into Google searches...and leads people to Outsports.

During the opening weekend, Google users were curious about "Ian Thorpe boyfriend." What made this curious was the fact that the Australian Olympic swimmer wasn't competing this year and hadn't competed since 2004. Instead, he was a commentator on the BBC...and somebody's gaydar went off. Searches brought readers to our 2009 piece about Ian Thorpe's Brazilian roommate. Go figure.

This week, attention has been focused on Abby Wambach, the American soccer player who now-famously got a rare, game-changing call in their semifinal match against Canada. Four of our top-10 search terms in the last week involve Wambach and her sexual orientation: 'Is Abby Wambach gay,' 'Abby Wambach lesbian,' 'Abby Wambach gay' and 'Abby Wambach Sarah Huffman.' What's interesting about that last one? Huffman isn't in the Olympics.

While the sexual orientation of these two Olympians have been of most interest, there are others.

British diving star Tom Daley rounds out the top-10 list of "gay" searches. He's not the only diver -- American bronze medalists Troy Dumais and Kristian Ipsen have been top-of-mind for "gay" searchers. More about the "gay diver" phenomenon, and Daley specifically, tomorrow.

"Danell Leyva gay" has crept into the searches...despite the fact he sends nude photos to women. Others generating buzz:

• Sam Mikulak gay
• Carl Lewis gay
• Jake Dalton gay
• Tim Tebow gay