Ian Thorpe comes out of the closet.

[Syt]

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/swimming/28282076

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

Five-time Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe has revealed he is gay in an interview on Australian television.

The 31-year-old told British journalist Sir Michael Parkinson on Channel 10: "I've thought about this for a long time. I'm not straight."

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.

In an emotional interview, Thorpe said he had only become comfortable in the last fortnight about talking openly to close friends about his sexuality.

"I've wanted to [come out] for some time but I couldn't, I didn't feel as though I could," he said.

"What happened was I felt the lie had become so big that I didn't want people to question my integrity."

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 the London 2012 Olympics.

Good on him.

Though I do find it amusing that he tried to pass fellow swimmer Amanda Beard s his beard:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a328097/ian-thorpe-im-sick-of-denying-gay-rumours.html#~oJTRTx87kF7pND

The multiple Olympic and world champion has previously alluded to a relationship with fellow swimmer Amanda Beard. In 2007, he was quoted as saying: "I did have a long-term, long-distance relationship [with Beard] and it was great while it lasted.

"It was sort of public knowledge we were seeing each other, and yet not. It went on for ages, years."

Former Olympic champion Beard, however, has previously insisted that she was never Thorpe's girlfriend, saying: "Take out the word relationship and put in the word friendship and that's exactly what it was."

[Josquius]

The bigger news for me is "so that is what Parkinson is up to now".
Which is a good thing really, the position of gays is really advancing far faster than I would have predicted a decade ago , things like this are quickly becoming less and less of a big deal.

[Viking]

The joke that Amanda Beard was Thorpes Beard for years now. This has been known for a long time. 

[garbon]

The joke that Amanda Beard was Thorpes Beard for years now. This has been known for a long time. 

But he hasn't said it which is the news.

Though frankly, I'd forgotten who he was till Marti posted about the interview on fb.

[Viking]

The joke that Amanda Beard was Thorpes Beard for years now. This has been known for a long time. 

But he hasn't said it which is the news.

Though frankly, I'd forgotten who he was till Marti posted about the interview on fb.

Yes, the real story is that he felt the need to hide it until now and the reactions to this being "meh" or "it's about time".

[alfred russel]

Does this story have any connection to his "Thorpedo" nickname?

[Viking]

Does this story have any connection to his "Thorpedo" nickname?

No, that just cause he swims really fast.

[CountDeMoney]

Does this story have any connection to his "Thorpedo" nickname?

No, that just cause he swims really fast.

Lulz, that would still an awesome nickname for the gaysphere.

[Valmy]

The only swimmers whose sexuality was a pre-occupation of mine was Summer Sanders in 1992. 

Good for him I guess.  I feel bad he felt the need to lie about this as recently as 2012.

[Sheilbh]

Which is a good thing really, the position of gays is really advancing far faster than I would have predicted a decade ago , things like this are quickly becoming less and less of a big deal.

Not so much in Australia which, as ever, is like Britain 30 years ago. No gay marriage, many states restrict or ban gay adoption and just tonight an AFL commentator called a player 'a big poofter'.

I think it's a big deal, especially for a country who has so much of their self-image tied into sport, that their greatest ever Olympian has come out. I doubt anything would change legally so long as the Liberals are in charge, but hopefully it'll help shift attitudes.

[Monoriu]

I am surprised that so many people are gay.  I also don't quite get the hostility toward gays.  Heterosexual men should welcome more gays, right?  Because this will reduce the competition for females. 

[Syt]

No, some heterosexual men are scared of the gays, because they're afraid they see them not as buddies but sexually, as potential fuck partners, and that all they want to do is stick their dicks in them.

In other words: they fear being seen by them as they see women.

[Monoriu]

No, some heterosexual men are scared of the gays, because they're afraid they see them not as buddies but sexually, as potential fuck partners, and that all they want to do is stick their dicks in them.

In other words: they fear being seen by them as they see women.

I haven't thought of that before.  It has never occured to me that any gay man would be interested in me 

[Viking]

No, some heterosexual men are scared of the gays, because they're afraid they see them not as buddies but sexually, as potential fuck partners, and that all they want to do is stick their dicks in them.

In other words: they fear being seen by them as they see women.

I haven't thought of that before.  It has never occured to me that any gay man would be interested in me 

Welcome to the wonderful world of homophobia then.

[Monoriu]

Welcome to the wonderful world of homophobia then.

Homophobia is one of the things that puzzles me greatly.  I think I now have a slightly better understanding about the reasons behind.  I still think more gay men in the world is probably a good thing though.