Tom Bosworth: Team GB race walker opens up on sexuality and mental health
Written by News on 18/03/2020
Olympic race walker Tom Bosworth says it is disappointing that he is Britain’s only out gay male track and field athlete, five years after he first came out publicly.
Bosworth, 30, proposed to his partner Harry on Copacabana beach during the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, a photograph of which – showing him down on one knee – went viral on social media.
Speaking about his sexuality, he told Sky Sports News that although he is “still the only one” to have come out publicly, he is happy to have inspired others to come out privately to their family and friends.
He said: “What has been really nice is that people who are inside of athletics and outside of athletics have been coming up to me to say ‘because of your story, it gave me the confidence to come out to my family or my friends’.
“That really means a lot because not everybody has to come out publicly.
“It was something I wanted to do to protect myself. Everyone wants to know everything about their Olympians in Olympic year, so I wanted to put it out there so that I could just enjoy my time with my now fiance.
“But I appreciate that not everyone wants to do that. Sport is still a long way behind society but hopefully when there are more people like me, less people talk about people like me I guess”.
As a race walker, Bosworth covers half a marathon every single day as part of his rigorous training regime. He holds the world record for the one-mile race walk, won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games and came sixth in the 20km race at Rio.
But it was after being disqualified at the World Championships in London in 2017 that his mental health was affected. Bosworth felt he put too much pressure on himself and later became seriously depressed, even attempting to take his own life on more than one occasion.
He said: “I had isolated myself and it did feel like there was no way out, because it felt like I was throwing everything that I had worked hard for in my career, as well as everything me and Harry had worked together to build in our life, I was throwing it all away.
“I wasn’t happy with training, competing, with life…I realised I wasn’t who I wanted to be. At that point I realised how badly I had been treating my family and more importantly, I realised how badly I was treating Harry.
“The only out was to try and take my own life. On maybe the second or third attempt, Harry had said enough is enough. I can’t sit by you and stay with you.
“It made me realise, standing on the bridge that night, I didn’t know who that person was when I was stood there. Thinking back now, it really takes complete control over your head and over your mind”.
While Bosworth is continuing with his training, there is concern that the Tokyo Olympics could be postponed amid the coronavirus pandemic, although organisers still insist it will go ahead as planned this summer.
Bosworth hopes the International Olympic Committee will make changes and modifications to allow teams and athletes still to compete and qualify, and also hopes the Games can be a celebration to unite the world once the threat of the disease has diminished.
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(c) Sky Sports 2020: Tom Bosworth: Team GB race walker opens up on sexuality and mental health
