Australian swimming legend Ian Thorpe's honest admission

The information was running hours before, but finally broke the news and was confirmed absolutely, Ian Thorpe, the Australian superstar swimmer revealed in a interview revelation for Channel 10 his sexual condition: he is gay. It has been another great appearance of the five-time Olympic gold medallist as it had Australia clapping their hands for the champion once more.

After years of public denials and endless speculation surrounding his sexuality, the Olympic swimming champion has finally opened up and revealed the truth. In a TV tell-all on Channel 10, Thorpe, sat down with British talk show legend Sir Michael Parkinson.

Parkinson asked “You’ve always said that you’re not gay, you’ve always said that your sexual experiences have been with women. Is all of that true?”

“Well that’s true, but I’ve thought about this for a long time. 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”, confessed the swimmer

Thorpe also talked about how his supporters and the nation could feel about his confession, and about his new sexual orientation: “A part of me didn’t know if Australia wanted its champion to be gay. I am telling not only Australia I’m telling the world that I am and I hope this makes it easier for others now.” The Australian icon added that upon telling family and friends they admitted they had their suspicions but have been incredibly supportive.

The record-breaker admitted that he is ashamed he didn’t come out earlier but said that he didn’t have the courage or the strength to “break the lie”.

He went on to win five Olympic gold medals, break 22 world records and win the hearts of a nation. Thorpie’s admission of being gay has unsurprisingly found  a flood of support from the public on social media, both in Australia and across the world. The hashtag #onyathorpie began trending on Twitter over the weekend.

Ian Thorpe after winning the final of men's 400 freestyle at World Championships in Perth, 15/01/98. Source: News Corp Australia

“I look at my life, I’ve made mistakes but I’ve made good choices with my life and I think I’ve got back to one of the core values which is most important to me, which is my honesty and my integrity. This is one thing that I value more than anything else and I’ve just offered it to people.”

by Santi Ivar

Sources:

http://www.news.com.au 

http://www.theaustralian.com.au 

Photo:

http://resources0.news.com.au