Ramsey Angela is living his dream.
The Olympic medalist is getting ready to compete this weekend at the World Athletic Championships in Budapest, where he will take part in the men’s 4X400 relay. On Instagram Wednesday, Angela reflected on how lucky he is.
“Today I woke up being appreciative of where I am at the moment,” he wrote. “Realizing I’m living the dream of the early teenage Ramsey who was looking for a purpose in life, getting suspended from school a few times, being told I won’t make a thing in life with this [behavior] and definitely chose to continue making bad decisions. But look at me now: Understood, well and chasing the top!”
It’s been a great run for Angela, who took home silver in the 4X400 relay in his Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games. He’s medaled four additional times during international competition over the last two years, including gold at the 2021 World Relays and and 2021 European Indoor Championships.
The Netherlands native earned bronze at the 2021 European U23 Championships and and 2023 European Indoor Championships.
As one of at least 186 out athletes who competed in the Tokyo Games, Angela is raising the bar for LGBTQ+ inclusivity in a big way. But what separates him from many of his male peers is the lack of a formal coming out story.
Ramsey did not make a social media post stating his homosexuality or participate in a big interview. Instead, he let his photos do the talking. The 23-year-old simply started posting cute images of himself and his then-boyfriend, model Pol IJpelaar.
Those pictures, combined with a celebratory shot of Ramsey standing in front of a rainbow leg, all but confirmed his sexual orientation.
“The socials are quite important for my career. I’m convinced it has a big effect on things like sponsor deals or commercial interests,” he told ESPN. “I share a part of my private life and this is part of that. That’s how I see it.”
In that same interview, Angela said he originally harbored doubts about going public with his relationship, but decided being open was the best way to live.
“To be honest, I did wonder whether it was normal. I had this brief period of doubt whether this was right,” he said. “But I soon thought, ‘There it is, I can’t change it, I’ll go for it.’ I guess now that I have a boyfriend, my first one, it has gone public. The other relationships I had, or whatever, I did post about them [on social media]. Now I post about my first boyfriend, but not like it’s a surprise. It kind of happened naturally, it’s part of being Ramsey Angela.”
It’s clear that coming out has only positively impacted Angela’s athletic career. His Instagram page is filled with pictures of him posing with his teammates, indicating they support him in his journey.
“It didn’t affect my career in that I had to behave differently or people looked at me differently or I felt different in training or during matches. It was just in my daily post,” he said. “I have been to places that are different from the Netherlands. But even in that respect, I never felt I should behave differently or anything.”
It’s apparent that Angela is loving his life away from the track as well. He’s very fashion forward, and doesn’t hesitate to show off a lewk.
Though Angela is quite visible, he says he wasn’t aware of the broader LGBTQ+ community until publications started reporting on his sexuality in the lead-up to the 2020 Olympics. He only realized the importance of his role when he saw his Instagram follower count ballooning.
“Maybe it’s weird, but I’ve only known about that [LGBTQ+] community since last summer,” he said. “I knew it existed, but I never paid any attention. At least now I know what the letters mean. But no, I never noticed a link between that community and my sport. I guess I had a special position in their eyes even before that. But I never really knew about it and now I’ve become more aware of it. Before we went to the Olympic Village we did a training camp in Shiba, near Tokyo. I woke up one morning and found I had a few thousand new followers, thanks to a post by Attitude. So I was like, huh? I love having more followers, but who are they? That’s when I discovered.”
“They,” meaning Ramsey’s more than 16,000 followers, are treated to photos of him embracing his queer identity. He says he’s learned that people respect others when they keep it real.
“Life is short, be yourself. If you are not yourself, that’s going to hurt,” he said. “I’m personally not very interested in other people’s opinions. I understand if you want to feel good in a certain environment. But I’m sure that if you are yourself, and you present yourself as the person you want to be, people will accept that as normal. But if you’re not yourself, it will become a [negative] thing.”
For Ramsey, it’s all positive right now. With the World Championship 4X400 relays beginning Saturday, he may soon be adding another medal to his resume. Not too shabby!
Scroll down for more pics of Ramsey living his best life…
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Indeed he is
abfab
Nice, sweet, beautiful and the smile. It’s what we all need. Thanks, Q.
Kangol2
Cute with a lovely smile and great sense of fashion. Rooting for you, Ramsey!
dallastex
I watch track and field competitions often on tv and it is undoubtedly the sexiest sport. No other sports uniform leaves as little to the imagination as the tight spandex/lycra shorts these dudes wear. And when they start running and everything moves…omg!!