Canadian Olympic luger aims to tackle homophobia through pride
A Canadian out Olympic luger who came out earlier this year has said he wants to tackle homophobia in sport through participating in conversations throughout pride.
Fennell came out as gay in May on his 19th birthday. The Olympic athlete represented Canada in the luge at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia.
He is taking part in a live chat today about how to tackle homophobia in sport, as part of Calgary Pride events
Speaking to CBC News on coming out, he said: “It was actually really terrifying to go through that… It was one of the most stressful things I’ve done.”
“I was in a World Cup in Latvia and I was almost in hysterics and I said, ‘How can I be brave enough to go down this mountain if I can’t be brave enough to be who I am,'” he said.
Continuing he said he thought it was “the healthiest choice” he could make, and that he had “almost entirely” positive reactions to his coming out.
