In a sign of how comfortable he is being out, in one video from Tokyo he jokes that his teammates are “hotties.” If I, a skinny little boy from the interior of Sao Paulo did it, so will you. “I want to be a mirror for everyone who feels non-standard.

“I want to be remembered as the first homosexual to play volleyball at a high level in Brazil,” he said. He’s also doing is as openly gay, after coming out publicly in 2020. Souza, 25, is a member of the Brazilian men’s team trying to repeat as gold medalists in Tokyo.

Not bad for a “skinny little boy from the interior of Sao Paulo.” Now, after posting videos showing him doing the samba on his bed, modeling his Olympic uniform and lip-syncing a drag performer’s songs, he has grown that number to 1.6 million. A week ago, Brazilian Olympic volleyball star Douglas Souza had 260,000 followers on Instagram.