Ian Thorpe: 'I'm gay', says former Australian Olympic swimmer


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Ian Thorpe: 'I'm gay', says former Australian Olympic swimmer

Five-time Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe is set to reveal he is gay in an interview on Australian television.

 

The 31-year-old talks about his sexuality in an interview with Michael Parkinson due to be broadcast on Channel 10 on Sunday.

 

Thorpe had previously denied he was gay and wrote in his 2012 autobiography 'This Is Me' that he was heterosexual.

Australia's most decorated swimmer has suffered from depression and was in rehab earlier in the year.

Thorpe's decision to come out was supported by fellow Olympic swimmer Stephanie Rice who tweeted:  "Thorpie is, and always will be, a superstar in my eyes."

He has spoken in the past of "crippling depression", having suicidal thoughts, and drinking too much.

In February, he was found in a state of confusion by police near his parents' house in Sydney.

 

Thorpe had taken anti-depressants and medication for a shoulder injury - sustained in a fall at home - but was not under the influence of alcohol.

He made his Olympic Games debut in Sydney in 2000, winning three golds there and another two in Athens, but retired in 2006, before making an unsuccessful comeback bid for London in 2012.

 

Source: BBC Sport

I don't think anyone believed he was straight. The question I am a little curious to see answered is why he insisted he was straight. This isn't the 1930s & he isn't in a sport that attracts a lot of homophobia, as far as I know.

Yeah......... so. I love the Thorpedo!

 

One day, hopefully in our lifetimes, this won't be news at all.

 

I know what you mean but I think this has more to do with celebrity culture than whether being gay or not is newsworthy.  I'm sure 99% of the population will just shrug and not really care either way.

Yeah, there's no need to deny it in this day and age. It's a shame that a story like this even needs to be covered in this day and age, as that tells you have far we have left to go until sexuality becomes a non-issue.

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