Five time Olympic champion swimmer Ian Thorpe has publicly announced he is gay. The star of the 2000 Sydney Olympic games made the announcement in an Australian television interview with Michael Parkinson.

Thorpe had long denied rumours that he was gay, even stating explicitly in his 2012 autobiography: “For the record, I am not gay and all my sexual experiences have been straight. I’m attracted to women, I love children and aspire to have a family one day.”

The 9 time Olympic medallist told Parkinson: “I have thought about this for a long time … I am not straight.”

“This is only something that very recently, in the past two weeks, that I have been comfortable with telling the closest people around me exactly that.”

The 31 year old has been a global star since he won 3 gold medals at the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney, but quit the sport in 2006 at just 24 years old. He attempted a comeback for the 2012 London Olympic games but did not make the Australian team and quit the sport again in 2013.

In February Thorpe began treatment for depression.