British Olympic diver Tom Daley says he was always attracted to men and that it was love at first sight when he met screenwriter Dustin Lance Black in 2013.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Guardian, Daley discussed his preparations for the 2016 Rio Olympics and his training regimen; his future goals; and (most interesting for Outsports) his sexuality.
"I always knew that I had that attraction to guys, but I just thought that was a usual thing, being attracted to guys and girls. It was only when I met Lance I started having such strong feelings," Daley said. "I don’t put a particular label on any of it because right now I’m in a relationship with a guy, but I still have sexual feelings towards girls."
Daley, 21, said his relationship with Black, 41, was his first with a man and described how they met:
In March 2013, Daley went for dinner at a friend’s home in Los Angeles and met Dustin Lance Black, a screenwriter 20 years his senior who won an Oscar for "Milk," the biopic of gay rights campaigner Harvey Milk. Daley says it was love at first sight. Until then, his only relationships had been with girls, but he had never been in love. Had he thought he might be gay? "I guess it has always been in the back of my head, but you never really know. I’d never had feelings for a person along those lines. I’d been in relationships with girls where I’d had sexual feelings, but it became so much more intense when I met Lance. I thought, ‘Whoa, this is weird. Why am I having these feelings for somebody?’"
Did that freak him out? He nods. "It freaked me a little bit initially, but then it was like, ‘OK, this makes sense’. Lots of things started to make sense."
Daley is in amazing shape, with 6% body fat, owing to tons of training and very strict diet (a lot of egg whites, chicken and salmon) that includes no alcohol and being in bed by 10. His future goals include working in TV and one day having children with Black. His immediate athletic goal is a gold medal in diving next year.
It becomes clear in the long interview that Daley has no regrets about coming out, a common theme with LGBT athletes regardless of the sport.
Dustin Lance Black and Tom Daley met in 2013 (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Battersea Power Station)