Abrahm DeVine, the 2018 NCAA champion in the 400 individual medley, has come out as gay in an interview with Swimming World magazine.
DeVine, a senior at Stanford and a member of the U.S. men’s national swim team who can still compete for the 2020 Olympics, told the publication: “I’m a gay athlete. There aren’t too many of us, so when I came out to my college team, that was a really tough time for me.”
DeVine also spoke about his team’s reaction: “I remember that being a pretty emotional time, and just feeling my whole team wrap around me and feeling that love in a place where I hadn’t really felt it, that was definitely pretty special for me. Just seeing them kind of prove me wrong was definitely special, something I’ll never forget.”
He added: “Growing up gay in any sport is definitely tough. There’s a culture that is created in a lot of sports where being gay is an insult. It’s something that gets tossed around and makes you not want to go to practice or not want to hang out with the team or be a part of the team.”
