In a recent interview, Canadian
Olympian Martha McCabe announced that she's gay.
Speaking with CBC Sports,
McCabe, who has retired from swimming, said that she hopes her coming
out will inspire youth who are struggling with their sexuality.
“Young people need to be able to see
themselves in the people they look up to,” McCabe,
30, said. “We need minority voices from different races,
sexualities, gender identities, etc, – people bold enough to speak
out, to share and to be themselves publicly so that younger
generations can see they are not alone, and that you can be
successful despite your differences.”
“Sure, I probably knew a couple of
lesbians outside of swimming. But I was barely paying attention to my
life outside of swimming.”
“The people I looked up to were in
swimming. The people I was constantly surrounded by and giving my
full attention to were in swimming. I think if there was an out
lesbian within that circle, someone I could have potentially looked
up to, it would have been normalized a little bit more,” she
explained.
McCabe, who placed fifth at the 2012
Summer Olympics in London, added that she wants to be an example for
young lesbian swimmers struggling with their sexuality.
“I want to be an example to young
female swimmers and help ones who are struggling with this, so they
can see it's normal,” she said.