Sport

Olympic swimmer comes out as gay

Olympic swimmer comes out as gay
Swimming Pool Photo: Pexels Images/Pavel Danilyuk

Elite British swimmer Dan Jervis has come out as gay ahead of next month’s Commonwealth Games.

The 26-year-old Welshman is set to compete at his third Commonwealths having had great success at the 2014 and 2018 games.

Jervis, who debuted at the Tokyo Olympic last year, said: "It took me 24 years to be who I am.

"I was adjusting to everything else, just trying to fit in – until I thought ‘Just be you'.

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"You know, we’re just before the Commonwealth Games and there are going to be kids and adults watching who will know that I’m like them, and that I’m proud of who I am.

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Jervis was speaking on the BBC’s LGBT Sport Podcast and added: "For so long, I hated who I was.

"You see it all the time, people who are dying over this. They hate themselves so much that they’re ending their lives.

"So, if I can just be that someone people can look at and say, ‘yeah, they’re like me,’ then that’s good.

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Action gets underway in the pool on Thursday, 28 July, with Jervis among the favourites for a medal.

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