Olympic Swimmer Sean Gunn Comes Out!

March 19, 2024
ALEXANDER

Olympic Swimmer Sean Gunn Comes Out!

More and more athletes are coming out as LGBTQ, finally! The latest athlete to come out is Olympic swimmer Sean Gunn. His life has literally taken him around the world, with Kentucky being his moment of gay clarity.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sean Gunn (@seangunnnn)

He sat down with Outsports and talked about attending the opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympics, representing his African home nation of Zimbabwe. The ceremony brought him to tears, even though he describes himself of not being much of a crier. The moment for him, surrounded by athletes he had admired his entire life was intense.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sean Gunn (@seangunnnn)

Getting into swimming early on, he was competing in the FINA World Swimming Championships by the time he was a teenager. He left home at the age of 18 and came to the US to pursue his swimming career. He went on to swim at the University of Kentucky. During his time there, he broke the school's records for relay. Not being known for its progressive support for the LGBTQ community, surprisingly that's where Sean, who had dated women previously, felt the courage to come out. He reports that his team was nothing but supportive.

He told Outsports, “I honestly don’t think anything really changed at all. If anything, friendships just became better. I think in my head I built it up for so long, and I was terrified that the way they acted or treated me would be different. But I was really lucky that everyone was so amazing and wanted me to be the happiest version of myself.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sean Gunn (@seangunnnn)

It would take years later for him to come out to his family back home. Sean finally fully came out at age 27 and states that he hasn't had any bad reaction to his coming out. He and his boyfriend are currently living in Cape Town, South Africa and apparently, he couldn't be happier.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sean Gunn (@seangunnnn)

After years of training and going to the Olympics, he was a bit burned out by swimming. He took some time off and has slowly started to enjoy getting back into the water. We love that he is living his life and sharing his story! You go, Sean Gunn!