Ian Thorpe, Olympic swimmg gold medalist, reveals he is gay terview - ESPN

Contents:

• FROM LLEGE SWIMMER TO HIGH SCHOOL ACH, GAY ATHLETE STAYED TE TO HIMSELF
• GAY OLYMPICS SWIMMER MAK WAV AND OUT OF THE WATER
• FOR GAY OH STATE SWIMMER, POOL BEME HIS SAFE SPACE
• TWO GAY SWIMMERS ARE BT IENDS AND EACH OTHER’S ROCK
• OLYMPIC SWIMMER MARK THORMEYER PERFORMED AT HIS PEAK AFTER G OUT AS GAY
• FOR LLEGE SWIMMG ACH, BEG GAY NO LONGER A BIG THG AND THAT’S WHY ’S A GREAT THG
• IAN THORPE REVEALS HE IS GAY
• FAMEWATCHER SEARCH PRIMARY MENU SKIP TO NTENT HOMECELEBRY HAIR TRANSPLANTCELEBRY PLASTIC SURGERYCELEBRY LEATHER JACKETBODY SHAPER SEARCH FOR: GAY MALE ATHLET, HOT MALE SWIMMERS, SWIMWEAR FOR MENGAY SWIMMERS LIST: OLYMPIANS AND COLLEGE STARS
• TYP OF GAY SWIMWEAR

FROM LLEGE SWIMMER TO HIGH SCHOOL ACH, GAY ATHLETE STAYED TE TO HIMSELF

From llege swimmer to high school ach, gay athlete stayed te to himself.

‘The most challengg part of beg gay has actually been enuragg myself to be more open wh others, ’ MacJilton Lewis wr. When Brish diver Tom Daley announced he was gay, ronated wh me.

However, after that first nversatn wh my mom, was not as if the floodgat opened and I began tellg everyone my life that I was gay. Even though I uld sense I was a supportive environment at Cleveland State (where I attend llege and petively swam), was not until my sophomore year that I was ready to open up to one of my teammat. The most challengg part of beg gay has still been enuragg myself to be more open wh others.

GAY OLYMPICS SWIMMER MAK WAV AND OUT OF THE WATER

I unrstand the importance of lovg myself for who I am: an athlete, a ach, a son, a brother and a iend — who happens to be gay. In May, the openly gay Fnish swimmer won the 50-meter etyle at the European champnships, ls than three months before he is set to swim the same race, along wh the 100-meter etyle, Tokyo.

But was jt before the 2014 Wter Olympics Sochi, Rsia, (where they obvly don’t have swimmg) where the 6-10 Fn ma his biggt splash, when he me out as gay. “I wanted to jo the discsn relatn to Sochi, sce is a sad fact that the Rsian gay law affects negatively Rsian young people’s liv and g human rights general, he told the Fnish Natnal TV Channel YLE’s “Sports Weekend” show at the time. The two most proment thgs that make up my inty are beg a swimmer and beg gay.

I didn’t know if I uld be gay and swim (at the time I didn’t even know if gay people uld play any sport). Over time my teammat didn’t jt see me as a gay guy but as a valuable teammate and iend and out of the pool.

FOR GAY OH STATE SWIMMER, POOL BEME HIS SAFE SPACE

I do so I n try to be a role mol for a stgglg gay kid swimmg, someone I wish I had to look up to when I was younger. Homophobia is still a very relevant issue wh swimmg and has been observed om the age group club level to the ternatnal level.

We’re two swimmers and bt iends, both llege, who happen to be gay. Before we tell you the story of how two gay swimmers helped each other e out, we want to share some background about each of .

TWO GAY SWIMMERS ARE BT IENDS AND EACH OTHER’S ROCK

I was always good at hidg my emotns and phg my feelgs ep si, so I had no problem hidg that I was gay until high school.

OLYMPIC SWIMMER MARK THORMEYER PERFORMED AT HIS PEAK AFTER G OUT AS GAY

On top of everythg else I was a petive swimmer, a sport known for beg “more gay” bee my uniform was a ty piece of fabric jt large enough to ver “my stuff” and I went to a private, Catholic high school. I was aaid of tellg my teammat that I was gay bee I feared they would look at me differently or my guy iends would distance themselv. The hard part was the lonely, dark place I put myself when faced wh the realy that people knew I was gay.

I’ve had such hard time g to terms wh my sexualy bee I was sred that my fay would hate me bee homosexualy is a s. At my school, swimmg was nsired a “gay” sport bee of our ltle Speedos.

FOR LLEGE SWIMMG ACH, BEG GAY NO LONGER A BIG THG AND THAT’S WHY ’S A GREAT THG

Even though I wanted to jt be “normal, ” that was not the ma reason I uldn’t wrap my head around wh beg gay. Josh are you gay?

IAN THORPE REVEALS HE IS GAY

Fast forward to fay weekend, my sophomore year at the Universy of Arizona 2015, when I fally felt fortable wh my fay knowg. Josh opened the text and all said was, “I’m gay, Josh.

In his sophomore year of llege, Josh fell to a ep prsn. ” However, if you Google “Tom Daley” and “Speedo”, once you have fished marvellg at his gual creas, you’ll appreciate why Out magaze once scribed this piece of clothg as “the sgle most perfect and phy em of clothg ever signed for the male body” exalted stat of the swim brief gay inography go some way to explag why is viewed wh such fear and loathg elsewhere.

In 2018, a man named Chris Donohoe plaed that he was the victim of homophobia after beg thrown out of a pool party at a hotel Las Vegas for floutg the “no Speedo” le.

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Young or old, gay or straight, the ‘sunga’ is a staple. “We n’t ny that they’re a huge gay thg, ” says Day when I ask him if only a certa type of man n pull off the look.

TYP OF GAY SWIMWEAR

“If you go to Mykonos or Ibiza, you will see hundreds of gay men wearg [briefs]. Ntled jt outsi of At, the queer mec of Texas, Hippie Hollow has a longstandg history of gay culture and is the only legally-regnized clothg-optnal public park the by Matthew Rutledge. Ntled jt outsi of At, the queer mec of Texas, Hippie Hollow has a longstandg history of gay culture and is the only legally-regnized clothg-optnal public park the state.