Ryan Lee writes:Bruce Hayes won a gold medal for the U.S. in the 1984 Olympics, while secretly struggling with his sexual orientation. “I think I had the same kind of fears that anyone coming out has, particularly since it was 24 years ago, but I think the environment actually made it worse,” Hayes said. “When you’re in an athletic environment, when you live in that environment year-round, there’s just not a comfort level of coming out and sharing that kind of information with people.”
Hayes never encountered any outright hostility from coaches and teammates within USA Swimming, but the high-pressure atmosphere and tunnel vision of Olympic training didn’t allow space for Hayes to deal with his personal struggles. “It wasn’t like they're homophobic, but they just weren’t sensitized to it,” Hayes said. “I wouldn’t say there was any kind of sensitivity to the fact that one of their athletes might be gay.”
Even the triumph of winning an Olympic gold medal couldn’t settle the discontent within Hayes, and a year after his stunning victory over the West Germans, he retired from swimming. “I think I would’ve continued had I felt comfortable being myself, but I didn’t, and I really kind of felt like I had to give up swimming to come out,” Hayes said. “I don’t know if it was a conscious choice, even; but now when I look back and wonder why I didn’t go forward, that was definitely one of the reasons, in the back of my mind.” READ MORE
H/T: GayNewsBlog
