DUBAI: As Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen came down to address the media ahead of the Superseries Finals in Dubai, there is no embracing or kissing. In fact, they barely smile at each other. Breathing heavily, as they had just finished a practice session, they just answer the questions thrown at them.
Recently, the Danish duo came out of the closet to reveal to the world that they are more than a doubles pair. But anybody who sees them during or before a tournament will not have the slightest clue that they are a couple.
“We are still the same and nothing has changed and we still are two badminton players from Denmark. So we don’t act or behave differently, now after the news has come out and it is really important for us to show that we don’t go hand in hand when we are out playing a tournament because then, we have a job, trying to go out and play badminton,” Christinna said.
That is professionalism of the highest order. What happens outside the court stays outside. In a relationship since 2009, Kamilla and Christinna did not go public for so many years. The society is just adjusting to the concept of same-sex couples and when you are trying to achieve something great in a particular sporting discipline, even the smallest of distractions could prove costly.
“Team sport is difficult but we are lucky that we are women. We have heard that for a male couple, it would have been more difficult. But our message is just to be yourself. It is easy to say but it’s not easy when you want to be a champion. For us this was the right time.
“We haven’t been hiding. We just wanted our privacy and that is why we waited so long. Now, we have an Olympic medal. So, we wanted to make it clear that we wanted to be famous for what we did on court and not for what we did outside court,” Kamilla said.
Every part of the world has same-sex couples in sports and outside, waiting desperately to come out. But very few have the courage. The thought of being rejected by the society puts them under pressure. Thankfully, Christinna and Kamilla never faced such issues.
“For us, it was easy to live in Denmark because it is so common to live in a relationship like this. So of course we were a little nervous on how the world will react to this news. But we got a lot of positive messages from around the world, including from India, Malaysia and Indonesia,” Kamilla said.
The pair who won the silver medal at the Rio Olympics travels constantly participating in various events and some of the countries that they travel to are not that accepting of their relationship.
But somehow, they have managed to get positive response from the badminton circles and outside. In fact, they have
written about their journey in their autobiography Det Unikke Makkerskab.
“We are very happy about how people reacted to the news and we have heard only positives and that is nice for us. All the European and Danish players knew about it earlier. It’s nice that now everyone knows and we don’t have to hide anything,” Christinna said.
Their autobiography loosely translates into ‘unique partnership’. And they are indeed unique, being the latest entrants to fight this taboo.
vimalsankar@newindianexpress.com