The 28-time All-American swimmer, Nick Albiero, recently opened up about being an openly gay athlete who is representing the US.
Albiero was never really hiding his true self, however, he is now ready to talk about it more publicly.
“I felt like there was a time for this, and I don’t think I was ready for this five years ago,” the swimmer told Outsports.
The athlete specializes on butterfly for the University of Louisville, and he has also been on the US Swimming National Team. He won two NCAA championships, and he was hailed as the ACC’s Men’s Swimmer of the Year twice.
As per Outsports, “Albiero is one of the most-decorated swimmers in the history of Louisville Cardinals athletics.” Talking about his future goals, the swimmer shared:
“The goal is to make one of those meets. And after that is obviously Olympic Trials.”
After experiencing Louisville Pride with his sister last June, Albiero, who was reportedly in a relationship with a man at the time, finally came out on Instagram by sharing photos of him sporting rainbows all over.
“It was really fun. I felt very at-home. Everyone was accepted, and you could just be who you were. It was such a cool atmosphere,” the athlete expressed.
Growing up, Albiero was teased at his Christian high school and middle school, which held him back from fully coming out.
“The kids there, the boys, they’d say some pretty mean things. My voice is a little higher and most of my friends are girls, and I acted a certain way that’s different. I was teased about those things growing up,” he recalled.
During his freshman year at the University of Louisville, the swimmer came out to some of his friends and close teammates. However, he felt reluctant to let his entire team know about it. Despite the negative impact of the teasing he has experienced in the past though, Albiero slowly came out to people in swimming, and eventually on Instagram, as well as in a TV interview.
“And that was something that was holding me back, because of the locker room talk and being on deck in a speedo, I didn’t want people to think of me differently or act differently around me. It held me back. But I haven’t received anything negative at all,” Albiero shared.
Source: outsports.com
Growing up gay I can relate to having mean boys tease & harass me. Was so thankful when it finally ended.