Ian Thorpe, Olympian Swimmer, Com Out as Gay | Time

Contents:

• IAN THORPE OUT AS GAY
• IAN THORPE OUT AS GAY PARKSON TERVIEW
• I 'KNEW' IAN THORPE WAS GAY BACK 2004
• ATRALIAN SWIMMER IAN THORPE COM OUT AS GAY
• IAN THORPE, LE G-OUT : ''JE LE DIS HT ET FORT, JE SUIS GAY''
• IAN THORPE ANNOUNC HE IS GAY

IAN THORPE OUT AS GAY

Five-time Olympic swimmg gold medallist Ian Thorpe for the first time publicly nfirmed that he is gay durg a televisn terview on Sunday, endg years of speculatn about his, who had long nied that he was gay, told Brish talk show host Michael Parkson an terview broadst on Atralia's Channel 10 that he jt recently realized the tth about himself. In his 2012 tobgraphy, "This Is Me, " Thorpe wrote, "For the rerd, I am not gay and all of my sexual experienc have been straight. He was too young to know whether he was gay or straight, and said he rpond that he was straight to avoid teasg om classmat.

"I'm fortable sayg I'm a gay man, " he said. You n grow up, you n be fortable and you n be gay. And part of me didn't know if Atralia wanted s champn to be gay, " he said.

IAN THORPE OUT AS GAY PARKSON TERVIEW

After years of nial, swimmg champn Ian Thorpe has revealed he is gay an exclive terview wh Sir Michael Parkson. "The terview, which Parkson has scribed as one of the bt he has nducted, also tails the swimmer's battle wh prsn, dgs and alhol, which ed him to check to a rehabilatn un earlier this revelatns are dramatic particularly bee Thorpe has always vehemently nied mours of his homosexualy.

In his own tobgraphy This Is Me, published 2012, the swimmer said that he found qutns about his sexualy hurtful, wrg: "For the rerd, I am not gay and all my sexual experienc have been straight. I was acced of beg gay before I knew who I was.

I 'KNEW' IAN THORPE WAS GAY BACK 2004

"Parkson said Thorpe's cisn that no qutn was off lims was brave and says he exam the good tim and the bad of the Atralian swimmg his tobgraphy published 2012, Thorpe said 'for the rerd, I am not gay'. " tweeted @GayTimMag. Snaps for Thorpie, " wrote Lady Cathere @KadyL, while Anthony Venn-Brown @gayambassador tweeted: "Life's much brighter on this si of the closet @IanThorpe.

ATRALIAN SWIMMER IAN THORPE COM OUT AS GAY

I first "knew" that Ian Thorpe was gay back 2004 at a pool Long Beach, Calif. The one exceptn was Thorpe, of whom gay mors had been swirlg sce he beme an OIympic champn at the 2000 Summer Gam Sydney.

"My prumptn was that he was gay, " Brent said, "and was like he knew that I knew and that sense he felt exposed.

IAN THORPE, LE G-OUT : ''JE LE DIS HT ET FORT, JE SUIS GAY''

I had observed all this over the two days we were there and that's when I "knew" Thorpe was gay. I uld not prove a urt of law, but I knew the way we gays often know about certa people.

IAN THORPE ANNOUNC HE IS GAY

At the 2012 London Olympics, Thorpe admted that his terts fashn, among others, ma him see why he "ticked the box" on what a gay man is terted . Fally, his tobgraphy two years ago, Thorpe tegorilly me out as straight, sayg, "For the rerd, I am not gay and all my sexual experienc have been straight. " It was all not te, of urse, as we disvered Sunday when Thorpe told Michael Parkson that he is gay.

"I'm fortable sayg I'm a gay man, and I don't want young people to feel the same way I did, " he said, addg that he wished he had e out revealed earlier this year that he has checked himself to rehab for alholism and prsn.

Closeted people njure up all sorts of reactns om other gay people. " On the other hand, this ment on Outsports reflects another pot of view: "We are so supposed to five them for years of lyg bee gay = shame.... Thorpe did not risk the same level of physil abe as gay people livg other parts of the world and his sport would have easily accepted him, as his fay did.