MATTHEW MITCHAM >Olympic champion diver, 30

I came out to my mum when I was about 15, but I probably told some of my friends before that. I don’t know if it was a huge shock for Mum—i did like to go to Spotlight to source material for my leotards and I recall doing a trampolining comp in a crushed velvet number with mauve diamantes on it. I became more comfortable with my identity the further I got through high school. I think by Year 11 or 12, I just wasn’t denying it anymore. Weirdly, all of the homophobic bullying kind of stopped after I owned it. I’d had a rough time before. I think when bullies smell weakness, they go after it. When I qualified for the Beijing Olympics [in 2008], I did a media interview and I blurted out that I lived with my boyfriend. The [Fairfax] journalist was very respectful and asked if I wanted that in print. She asked me to think about it and so I did. There are implications for sportspeople. You’ve got to think about your commerciality—there’s always been a sense that gays don’t get endorsement deals. I figured it was better to be my true, authentic self. And so I told her to go ahead. Overwhelmingly, people were wonderful and supportive. When I was young, I didn’t really have any gay role models. I mean, in Beijing, I was the only [openly] gay man in the athlete’s village. Out of 11,000 athletes there were 10 lesbians and me. That’s it. Things have changed. At the last Games in Rio [in 2016], there were 42 openly LGBTI, and that’s so encouraging.