Mitja Zubin arrived at the European Athletics Championships hoping people would notice how fast he could run.
Instead, some people decided to talk about whether he was gay.
The 20-year-old Slovenian hurdler was making his European Championships debut in Birmingham after recently achieving a major milestone in his young career.
On July 1, he ran the 400-meter hurdles in 49.85 seconds, breaking the 50-second barrier for the first time.
But after an enthusiastic post-race interview with the Slovenian Athletics Federation was shared on social media, the comments quickly became ugly.
There were insults about his appearance.
There were homophobic slurs.
And Mitja decided not to quietly scroll past them.
He Showed People The Hate
Mitja shared a screenshot of some of the abusive comments on his Instagram Story.
He described them as a small example of the online toxicity athletes can experience behind the scenes.
“I didn’t realize how much hatred there was at home,” he wrote.
Then something rather remarkable happened.
Instead of Mitja being left to deal with the abuse alone, Slovenian athletics publicly stood behind him.
The Slovenian Athletics Federation condemned comments attacking personal characteristics or insinuating about someone’s sexual orientation as offensive and unacceptable.
Then support came from somewhere even more prominent.
The President Of Slovenia Spoke Up
Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar addressed Mitja directly in a public statement.
She told him that the support of the vast majority of people was louder than those trying to insult and humiliate him.
“There is no place for homophobia, hate speech and discrimination in sports in our society,” she wrote.
And amid the national conversation that followed, Mitja decided to say publicly something that the people closest to him had known for years.
He is gay.
“Maybe Someone Younger Won’t Be Ashamed”
Mitja told Outsports that this was the first time he had publicly spoken about his sexual orientation.
It wasn’t his first coming out.
He had told his mother, younger brother and close friends when he was 16.
“I never felt the need to broadcast it to the world,” he explained.
But being confronted with homophobia gave him a reason to do something different.
“I came out so that maybe someone who comes after me, someone younger, won’t be ashamed of it,” he told Slovenian sports newspaper Ekipa.
That motivation has become central to how Mitja now talks about what happened.
He wants younger gay athletes to have something he understands can make an enormous difference: somebody visible ahead of them.
“Growing up, having a visible role model can make all the difference,” he told Outsports.
He wants young athletes struggling with who they are to understand that they are not alone — and that being themselves does not place a ceiling on what they can achieve.
He’s Just Getting Started
That last part matters because Mitja is not looking back on a finished athletics career.
He is 20.
His 49.85 personal best in the 400m hurdles came only last month.
He represents Slovenia internationally and is among the country’s promising young athletes.
His ambitions now include reaching the World Championships.
And perhaps one day, the Olympics.
He was surprised to learn from Outsports that he had been the only publicly out gay athlete competing in the men’s category at these European Championships.
Rather than making him uncomfortable, the distinction gave him pride.
“Representation matters deeply because everyone should feel safe, welcome, and valued for their athletic abilities,” he said.
And ultimately, athletic ability is exactly what Mitja wants people to judge.
“I want my results to speak for themselves,” he told Outsports.
“Being gay is just one small piece of who I am — it doesn’t define my entire identity or my limits as an athlete.”
The people posting gay slurs beneath Mitja Zubin’s interview apparently thought his sexuality was something they could use against him.
Instead, they gave a talented 20-year-old athlete a reason to tell younger gay people something much more powerful.
You can be gay.
You can be yourself.
And you can still dream about standing on the biggest sporting stage in the world.
📷 @mitjazubin
🎬 Prefer video? Subscribe to B-Gay on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@BGaycom