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Australian Olympic climber Campbell Harrison has kissed his boyfriend following his Olympic loss, defying online trolls.

Campbell had previously been subject to a barrage of online hate from homophobic trolls following his announcement qualifying as an Olympian.

Now he has the trolls talking again, whilst garnering more support from the LGBTQIA+ community worldwide.

Australian Olympian Campbell Harrison defies trolls with passionate kiss

This week Olympic climber Campbell Harrison failed to advance to the final of the mens boulder and lead competition at the

Tying for 19th, with a score of 9.4 Harrison failed to advance in the competiton.

Following the annoucnement he would not be progressing, he made his way to the barriers planting a passionate kiss on his waiting boyfriend.

鈥淨ualifying was so hard and getting through everything to be here was really tough. It was just not my day,鈥漢e said afterwards.

鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty crazy. This morning, when I woke up, I was kind of emotional. I thought 鈥榦h, I guess I鈥檓 an Olympian now鈥�. So that鈥檚 kind of wild. At the end of the day, that was the big goal.”

But whilst he was focussed on his Olympic dreams, the kiss which was broadcast internationally held particular signifcance

In November when he qualified for the Olympics Harrison took to social media to make the announcement that he would be heading to Paris.

Posting a photo on his Instagram of himself and his boyfriend in he said at the time “I just qualified for the Olympic Games…”

“The only way I can truly express how I felt in this moment is by showing it to you.”

“This was the culmination of more than a decade of blood, sweat, tears, and utter heartbreak. The pressure I felt going into this final was physically painful, to the point where I didn’t know that I could stand it” he said.

“Coming into the Lead round, with everything on the line, I completely disappeared within myself and just climbed. The part of me that erupted at the top of the wall was pain, fury, joy, and pride. I cried like I’ve never cried before, because this accomplishment is of a magnitude I could never truly comprehend. I’m going to the Olympics 馃槶”

However when the official Olympics account shared his news, picture included, online trolls were less than thrilled as they clapped back with hateful comments directed at the pair.

The offical account was forced to disable comments and remind users to keep things positive.

鈥淧lease ensure your comments are respectful and avoid any language that could be [deemed] offensive or harmful to others. We reserve the right to remove comments that do not adhere to this guideline” they posted at the time.

Speaking to Outsports at the time he reflected on the importance of the moment, saying “We often tell ourselves that society as a whole is becoming more progressive, or that things are 鈥榞etting better鈥�.”

“But the reality is鈥� there鈥檚 a reason why you see so few out, queer athletes in sport. And that鈥檚 because we鈥檙e still not safe here.. yet. Pride matters. Representation matters.鈥�

Harrison’s efforts have been recognised with Pride In Sport nominatimnmg him for the LGBTQ+ role model of the year.

 

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