Anton Down-Jenkins, an out gay diver who competed in Tokyo for the 2020 — errr, 2021 — Summer Olympic Games, has retired from the sport, ending his bid to compete at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
“I recently decided to end my campaign through to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” Down-Jenkins said in a post on Instagram, “and while I’m sure a lot of people are confused by the timing, it couldn’t feel more right.”
You can see his full post on Instagram:
The work and effort it takes to be an Olympian is no joke. We’re not sure exactly why Down-Jenkins chose to end his bid for Paris 2024, but we can certainly accept and embrace it, given the sacrifice it would take to get there.
At the Tokyo Games, he was the first diver in almost four decades to represent New Zealand at the Summer Olympics.
At the 2023 World Championships, he finished 34th in the preliminary round, though he was definitely confident and ready:
That’s a lot of work.
The out gay athlete has also competed for the University of North Carolina.
