British-born Jamaican swimmer comes out as gay

British-born Jamaican swimmer Michael Gunning said that he has become a better swimmer as an openly gay athlete.

In an op-ed piece published by British newspaper, The Metro, the 25-year- old Gunning opened up about his own journey into coming out and the fact that being able to be comfortable in who he is has made him a better athlete.

“What I will say is that all my friends and family have seen a massive change in my personality because I’m finally owning who I am. I swim at my best when I’m happy, and coming from a Caribbean heritage, I’ve been given a bigger voice and platform to be a role model,” he said.

He also revealed the reasons why he decided to stay previously quiet about his sexuality and the perception of black people not gravitating towards swimming as a sport.

“Competitive swimming and sport has been a huge part of my life for the past 15 years, but through that time I’ve struggled and worried about how my sexuality would be perceived when I started representing my country (Team GB until 2016 and since then Jamaica) on the world stage,” he said. “Because of this, I suppressed my feelings for a long time and wasn’t open about who I was.”

“During my school years though, people always used to say to me ‘black people don’t swim’. Yet here I was, a black man who loved swimming. I quite liked the fact that I was different and was doing something that many people didn’t understand or really even think possible.”

Do their part

He has called on all athletes to do their part in making the sport inclusive for all athletes regardless of sexual orientation.

“Many of these discussions are still ongoing because sport is still a place where many LGBTQ people don’t feel welcome, or they actually feel excluded. Some may find this shocking, some may think it’s not surprising at all, but I think it shows why it’s so important we keep conversations going about sexuality, gender identity and sport,” he said.

Gunning recently set a new national record in the 200m butterfly at the Manchester International Swim Meet in late October, finishing third in 1:59.98 seconds, bettering the 2:00:07 seconds that he set in 2017. He became the first Jamaican to clock under two minutes in the event.