Olympic finalist and Commonwealth medallist Dan Jervis discusses acceptance and support in the swimming community, what he has been targeting for a busy summer in the pool - and how he hopes his experience can have even just a small impact on young swimmers and swimming fans of the future.
When reflecting on coming out to a few close members of the tight-knit Swansea University training group at the Swim Wales High-Performance Centre, Dan points to one person whose reaction - or lack of - has typified the positive difference he hoped it would make in and out of the pool.
"Someone who has been phenomenal is my coach Adam Baker. Adam has coached me for nearly 11 years now, and while I know this sounds cheesy, in the swimming world I sort of look at him as a bit of a parental figure, because I see him so much more than I see my own family,” he says.
"When I told him, he was just like, 'and...'. That's exactly the reaction you want. That's the reaction that you would hope everyone to give. From a swimmer-coach relationship, it has definitely made it even better, because he now knows literally everything about me. Sometimes when you are guarding something that is so big to you, and you are afraid to share something, you lash out at different things. Even if it's nothing to do with that, the internalized pressure that you put on yourself can definitely be projected in different ways."
