Olympic Gold Medal Swimmer Ian Thorpe Just Revealed He Is Gay — Here’s Why It Matters

After years of insisting he is straight, Australian Olympic gold medal icon Ian Thorpe has just revealed he is gay. Here’s why it matters.

“For the record, I am not gay and all my sexual experiences have been straight. I’m attracted to women, I love children and aspire to have a family one day … I know what it’s like to grow up and be told what your sexuality is, then realising that it’s not the full reality. I was accused of being gay before I knew who I was.” — Ian Thorpe, in his 2012 autobiography, This Is Me.

No Australian swimmer has won more Olympic gold medals than 31-year old Ian Thorpe. Five, including three gold and two silver at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

For years rumors circulated around Thorpe’s sexuality, and for year he graciously but fervently denied them. 

But in an exclusive interview with Sir Michael Parkinson, reported in the Sunday Telegraph, Thorpe comes out as gay.

It’s understood the interview, which Parkinson has described as one of the best he has ever conducted, includes a full admission from Thorpe that he is gay despite having dated women in the past.

In the emotional sit-down shot last month, Thorpe also details the years of depression he has battled while denying his sexuality 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.

It followed 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.

“The thing that I find hurtful about it is that people are questioning my integrity and what I say. That’s the only part I find hurtful, that this is something I would be embarrassed about and that I would hide,” Thorpe wrote in his book.

In 2011, Thorpe told London’s The Sunday Times newspaper of his ­frustrations.

“I don’t think anybody has a right to write about (my private life), but I don’t care enough about it to be bothered. If you try and fight it, you’re damned; if you don’t, you’re damned.”

The Telegraph adds that “Gold medal-winning diver Matthew Mitcham, who also has revealed he is gay, said last night he hoped Australians supported 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 and that the media and the public give him the same respect and the same overwhelming support I received in 2008. The Australian public and media have a really wonderful opportunity to set an example for kids who are in Ian’s position.”

Thorpe is an international figure who has the ability to break down barriers. In a rapidly-changing world, perhaps the majority of Americans will yawn or shrug, say, “Who cares?” or “Who cares!” but the fact remains that in the U.S. the majority of states still make it legal to fire an LGBT person for being LGBT — or even a straight person for being perceived as LGBT. And only about half of America lives in a state where same-sex couples can marry — and that number has essentially doubled in the past year.

Been working very hard on an intense training camp in Majorca but @GaryLineker I’m preparing for a “tan-off” pic.twitter.com/mxys0275

— Ian Thorpe (@IanThorpe) October 8, 2012

People in the U.S. still believe, as one commenter on The New Civil Rights Movement’s Facebook page said as recently as today on a story about same-sex marriage in Utah, “Another win for the Devil. This nation is going to be destroyed for the sins it is allowing to continue.” Or, as another commenter, believing they are being tolerant and supportive, offered these grossly hypocritical words.

I can only truly speak for myself but Mormons aren’t homophobic. We just don’t support the act of gay sex or even the attraction to the same sex. The problem is that most Mormons out there are trying to push their beliefs onto other people. Although I don’t support gay marriage, it doesn’t bother me that gays exist. People should worry about their own salvation. If you want to sin, more power to you. I’m strong enough for it to not effect me. I do, however worry that my son is going to think it’s normal. The truth is that it’s not. That’s not the way God intended humans to be. 

I have a theory that gays are natures way of world population control. This planet is crowded enough as it is. Pros and cons..

Yes, “Mormons aren’t homophobic,” and “gays are natures [sic] way of world population control.” Do you see the hidden homophobia?

Meanwhile, around the world, being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender is illegal in over 80 countries. In ten of these countries, being gay subjects an LGBT person to the death penalty. 

Ian Thorpe coming out as gay won’t change any law, but perhaps it can help change hearts and minds — of adults, and kids, especially those growing up and being told being gay is an “abomination,” “of the devil,” and “sin.”

Thorpe coming out is just one more example of the power people gain by being honest with themselves and the world. What Ian Thorpe chooses to do next is entirely up to him. But his prior accomplishments make him an amazing ambassador for the LGBT community, just as Ellen DeGeneres, Tom Daley, Dustin Lance Black, Michael Sam, Ellen Page, Wanda Sykes, Anderson Cooper, and so many others have become.

Congratulations, Ian, for being brave. And thanks. For all the kids who need to know that LGBT people are equal.