Australian women’s rugby sevens star Shani Smale was in tears Tuesday after the Aussies lost the bronze medal match to Team USA in what is her final international game. Smale’s impact, though, goes far beyond on-field results.
An out and proud Team LGBTQ athlete, Smale wore her signature rainbow headgear in the Olympics, the second Games she has done this. Quite a feat when one considers how strict the International Olympic Committee is about what can go on a uniform, not wanting to run afoul of sponsors or get embroiled in politics. The IOC gave the OK for the rainbow helmet prior to the 2021 Tokyo Games.
“The rainbow headgear is really important to me,” Smale told the Sydney Morning Herald. “It’s that visibility piece for myself and for my community. It’s finally being comfortable with myself, [which] is huge. Me being able to share my story helps others be able to figure out who they are and what stories they have.”
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Seeing Smale fly around the field in the Olympics, the headgear visible even in a scrum, was uplifting and I can imagine how many LGBTQ people worldwide saw that and felt inspired. In 2023, she was awarded the LGBTQ Out Role Model award at the Pride in Sport Awards, which the Australian Olympic Committe says, “rcognizes exceptional efforts in making Australian sport more inclusive of LGBTQ people.”
“Growing up in a country town feeling isolated, feeling like I didn’t belong, getting told some disgusting things by men, people outing me before I was even comfortable with being who I am … I’ve had a pretty tough upbringing,” Smale told the Sydney Morning Herald. “But I’m proud of who I am now.
“I always thought I had to marry a man. I thought I had to walk down the aisle to a man but as soon as I figured out that didn’t have to happen, as soon as the [same-sex marriage] vote happened, it was like, ‘Ahhh, there is some relief’. I can now start to be who I want to be.
“We need people to be out there and be our allies and stand up for us. Love is love and that’s the most powerful thing on Earth. We’re not on Earth very long, so if you’re fighting angst and disappointment and not knowing who you are, you can’t be better for anyone else around you or the world.”
Smale, nee Williams, married her wife, Mel Smale, in February 2023, writing that in the walk to the altar, “I walked patiently behind Mel before placing my hand on her shoulder and witnessing how beautiful and stunning she is.”
Smale leaves the pitch as a three-time Olympian, a 2016 gold medalist and a role model, something she recognized after Tuesday’s game.
“The Olympics is the pinnacle, but it doesn’t define you as a human,” she said.
“I’ll be able to sit back and really reflect after this and realize the role model I am, not just in Australia but the world.
“You get messages here and there but you don’t really let yourself know the impact until you look back in the rear-view mirror and go ‘Geez, look at what I’ve done and what the game’s allowed me to do’.”
