FOLLOWING A SCREENING of the documentary Out To Win during Queer Screen’s Mardi Gras Film Festival, a panel of out Australian athletes discussed their experiences around their sexuality and their sporting careers. The panel included Olympic swimmers Ian Thorpe and Daniel Kowalski, Olympic diver Matthew Mitcham, former NRL player Casey Conway, Olympic team basketballer Shelly Gorman-Sandie and Olympic soccer player Sally Shipard. Between them, the panel has 16 Olympic medals, seven of which are gold, attended nine Olympic games, and played multiple professional football and basketball matches.
Ian Thorpe had been recently quoted in the press as saying he felt he’d been bullied into coming out. He was asked how long he’d known he was gay before he came out.
“A long time before,” he said. “I knew when I was in my teens. The reason I said that [I was bullied] was because I was asked about it when I was very young – 15 or 16. And because I had told that lie I didn’t want to go back on that. Because I told that lie I was trying to supress that part of me. It was difficult.”