Copenhagen: Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen – one of the most dominant women’s doubles pair in recent memory came out as gay, mentioning the fact in an interview with Danish media that they are a couple and have been dating each other for eight years.
The Rio Olympic silver medalists have won four women’s doubles titles in European Championships (2012, 2014, 2016, 2017), and were ranked World No. 2 on April 27th, 2017.
‘We didn’t tell the public earlier because Christinna and I would like to be recognized for our achievements in badminton,” said Juhl.
“We feel that we have achieved our goals, and we think now is the right time to do so,” said Pedersen.
The pair also mentioned that some countries they competed have extreme homophobic laws, such as Indonesia, that’s why they did not chose to come out sooner.
“We have reached a points where we can afford to skip some tournaments if the tournaments are being hosted in certain homophobic countries,” added Juhl.
Both players strongly believed their relationship has made them a better women’s doubles pair.
“We love each other and we also love playing badminton as a pair,” added Pedersen.
It’s not always easy being honest especially when they are two of the most popular female badminton players in the world. However, we are certain that Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen would feel much easier and more enjoyable being themselves.
