Australian Olympic swimming champion
Ian Thorpe has come out as gay in a television interview that aired Sunday
evening in Australia,
an announcement that follows more than a decade of denials — the first of which
came just as his career skyrocketed at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, when he was just 15.
In the interview with
veteran British interviewer Sir Michael Parkinson, Thorpe — a five-time Olympic
gold medallist — details the years of depression he has battled while denying
his sexual orientation from the world.
Part of that concealment included his
own autobiography “This Is Me,” published in 2012, in which Thorpe wrote that
he found questions about his sexuality hurtful.
“I accept there’s nothing else I can
say or do,” Thorpe said in 2012. “There’ll always be people who are skeptical;
people who want me to be gay, and others who’ll try and use it against me.”
But for first time publicly, Thorpe
said Sunday he was ready to tell the truth about what what he said had become
the “big lie” in his life.
“What happened was, I felt that the
lie had become so big that I didn’t want people to question my integrity and a little
bit of ego comes into this,” Thorpe said in a 90-minute interview. “I didn’t
want people to think that I had lied about everything.”
“I’m not straight and this is only
something that very recently – we’re talking in the past two weeks – I’ve been
comfortable telling the closest people around me.”
[...]
“I’m comfortable saying I’m a gay
man.
“And I don’t want people to feel the
same way I did. You can grow up, you can be comfortable and you can be gay.
“I was concerned about the reaction
from my family, my friends and I’m pleased to say that in telling them,
especially my parents, they told me that they love me, and they support me. And
for young people out there, know that that’s usually what the answer is.”
[...]
“I’m a little bit ashamed that I didn’t
come out earlier, that I didn’t have the strength to do it, I didn’t have the
courage to do it, to break that lie.
“But everyone goes on their own path
to do this.”
In advance of the interview,
Australian gold medal-winning diver Matthew Mitcham, who came out as gay in
2008, said Saturday he hoped Australians would support Thorpe.
“I can totally understand how
difficult this whole process has been for him,” Mitcham said. “I really hope
this process gives him some peace.”
“The Australian public and media have
a really wonderful opportunity to set an example for kids who are in Ian’s
position,” he added.
Thorpe, 31, retired from swimming in
2012 after winning five Olympic gold medals, three silvers, and one bronze, and
setting 22 world records — he is Australia’s most decorated Olympian.
He was 14
when he was first chosen for Australia, and became swimming’s youngest world
champion at that age when he won the 400-meter freestyle at the 1988 worlds in
Perth.
His career peaked at the 2000 Sydney
Olympics at which he won three gold and two silver medals. He retired after the
2004 Athens Olympics, citing a lack of motivation, but made an unsuccessful
comeback when he tried to qualify for the 2012 London Games.
Thorpe has recently emerged from a
lengthy stay in a rehabilitation facility, having endured very public battles
with drugs and alcohol.
He said he is now looking forward to
finding a partner and to having children: “I’d like my own family.”
A transcript of Thorpe’s interview is here.
another brave sportman!!! great!!!
ReplyDeletemore shall follow
DeleteVERY good for him
ReplyDelete