LEO DILLIER, born on this date is a Swiss beach volleyball player. He started playing volleyball and beach volleyball at the age of six. In 2015, he became Swiss U15 beach volleyball champion.

Since 2019, Dillier has been concentrating on the sport in the sand. With his set-piece partner Florian Breer, he finished fifth at the U22 European Championships in Antalya. In 2021, Simon Hagenbuch was his partner nationally and internationally. With Thibaud Colomb, Dillier finished ninth at the U21 World Championships in Phuket in December. He was also voted national “Youngster of the Year”.

Since 2022, Dillier has played together with Olympic participant Adrian Heidrich. In August, Dillier/Heidrich became Swiss champions, and in October they reached fourth place on the World Beach Pro Tour at the second Challenge tournament in Dubai. After they were unable to achieve either a better or equally good result in the international beach series in the following two seasons, they parted ways, and the Aargau native began working with Marco Kratiger in 2025. After participating in the final of the Challenge in Xiamen in May, they were able to top this result again the following month. At the similar event in Stare Jabłonki, they first won Pool D and then defeated Vinicius/Heitor and Popow/Resnik. They advanced without a fight against the Olympic champions Åhman/Hellvig before defeating Bartosz Łosiak / Michał Bryl, who finished ninth at the Olympics, in three sets in the final.

Dillier has publicly come out as gay, saying he wants to help bring about change in elite men’s sports. The 25-year-old pro, who is hoping to compete at the L.A. Olympics in 2028, explained in a video on Instagram that he’s looking to provide young LGBTQ people with the visible role model he lacked while growing up.

His announcement came shortly after he competed alongside his playing partner, Luc Flückiger, at the European Beach Volleyball Championships in Poland, where the pair were eliminated just before the round of 16. 

In his video, Dillier speaks candidly about the pressure that elite male athletes face to conform to traditional images of masculinity and toughness. “In elite sports, there’s a certain stereotype: an athlete has to be a certain way to perform,” he says. “That really bothered me because I didn’t quite fit in. I was a bit different.”

He believes it’s still really hard for queer men to break the mold in sports. “Being gay is often equated with a weakness. There are very few athletes who talk about this topic,” he adds. Reflecting on his personal journey, Dillier says his teenage years were the most difficult.

“When I think back to my time around 10 years ago — I was 15 and struggled immensely — I so wish I had had a role model in elite sports that I could identify with. That didn’t exist back then. I hope that I can inspire other people today.” Getting to this point in his life, when he has felt ready to go public about being gay, has also been challenging. “It’s an issue that has preoccupied me my whole life. In elite sports, it’s still difficult to come out. That’s why it was difficult for me too,” he shared.

As to why he chose now, he added: “I feel confident, and I see the dynamics… I want to do something about it.”