Australian Olympic Swimmer Daniel Kowalski Becomes Latest Gay Sportsman To Come Out

Daniel Kowalski, the Olympic medal winning Australian swimmer has come out as gay saying he was “tired of living a lie”.

Talking to the Sunday Age Kowalski said that whilst Welsh rugby player Gareth Thomas, who revealed he was gay in December, has acted to inspire him, it had also caused more negative emotions, with the swimmer saying he felt:

“anger because I was jealous … he was out and felt liberated and free”.

Going on to speak about how this anger then moved towards a more inspired train of thought where he began to consider the fact he could do something similar, Kowalksi said:

“…it really got me thinking that I could do that (come out) if I wanted to. I felt really compelled to do it because it’s very tough to live a closeted existence.”

Out to family and friends since 2006, Daniel said that he didn’t realise how living a closeted life had affected him, but now that he was out these feeling of suppression, the reasons why and the impact they have were becoming more obvious:

“Things pop in my head that make me realise that I clearly suppressed these thoughts of being gay … because it was ‘wrong’, as a male it’s ‘wrong’ but even more as an elite athlete,”
“I always knew that I lacked confidence when I stood up on the blocks and I do wonder sometimes if that lack of confidence was fear – fear of not really knowing who I am.

“On the sporting side, I lost to some amazing champions, so I’m not for a second saying that this is the reason I didn’t win. I often wonder if the lack of self-confidence and lack of identity in many ways held me back from reaching my potential.”

Kowalski’s coming out is undoubtedly something to be congratulated, something Gareth Thomas did publicly via Twitter where he wrote “A great friend, and now a free man, who will help thousands of people, especially children.”, however it still acts to show the enormity of the problem with homophobia in the sports world, with Kowalski being yet another athlete who has felt it impossible to come out whilst competing at a top level in his chosen sport.

Whilst Kowalski will act to inspire others, the reality is if the wall of homophobia in sport truly is going to be broken down it needs more people like the Irish hurler Donal Og Cusack to stand up and compete as a proud sportsman, not discussing how things should be different as a retired one.

Via Pink News