Gold Medalist Matthew Mitcham Defends Having OnlyFans Account: 'The World Can Be Very Prudish'

Out gold medalist Matthew Mitcham entered the debate about whether Olympians should be on adult social media sites, citing his own as a way of legitimately supplementing his income.

Diver Matthew Mitcham is in the record books for being the first out athlete to win a gold medal. That was at the 2016 Olympic Games when he won in the 10m platform event, scoring (at the time) the highest single-dive score in Olympic history. (His record was subsequently broken.) He retired from the sport later that year, but the 36-year-old Aussie is in the news this week for an articulate defense of being an OnlyFans model published in London's The Telegraph.

His op-ed came in response to criticism that British diver Jack Laugher has received for having an OnlyFans account. Laugher is a friend of Mitcham currently competing as part of the British swim team in Paris. "The world can be very prudish. It feels like people like to shame athletes who show off their bodies, even though there's usually no full-frontal nudity involved," he writes in his opinion piece.

Mitcham launched his OnlyFans in 2023 and says it is a legit way for athletes, like himself and Laugher, to supplement their incomes. "I've invested a lot of time and effort in my body. If people want to see it, I'd be stupid to give it away for free.," he writes. "Yes, some might ask 'Why give it away at all?' But my answer to that would be 'my body, my choice' and just like any project you've worked hard on, it's natural to be proud and want to show it to people."

He also pointed out there is the equivalency of an expiration date on a career in adult social media. "So when it comes to this particular resource, it makes sense to cash in when the product is at its peak – when everything is nice and tight, sitting high and bulging in all the right places!"

He also addressed the boundaries he put on his OnlyFans account. "I approached it with an abundance of caution. I still haven't shown any full-frontal nudity on my page. When it comes to nudity, my personal philosophy around it is "If I can defend this as artistic rather than obscene then I will share it." Because when it crosses the line into pornography, that's when people can start taking issue, and it would almost certainly start to impact my mainstream opportunities."

And he addressed the reality of being a sports celebrity. "The harsh truth of sport is that a small percentage of athletes make it big. Those people might be rewarded with lots of juicy sponsorships, but we're talking about only the most beautiful and charismatic of Olympic champions. A lot of brilliant performers get left behind ... In this business, being a successful athlete doesn't automatically guarantee success on the site. We're talking about a very visual medium. If you're hot and you market yourself effectively and regularly, you can attract a lot of interest."

Mitcham concluded by saying that while "there is a stigma attached to modelling on OnlyFans, and you have to weigh it up carefully. Ultimately, you can play safe and stay within the system, or you can decide to be a maverick – one of those people who steps outside the system and changes it. He added, "There's no logical reason why sharing tailored content with a specific group of supportive, liberal fans should affect an athlete's ability to appeal to the mainstream. Let's hear it for the mavericks, I say."

Check out these pics from Mitcham's Instagram account: