Olympian Daniel Kowalski has announced that he is gay! After winning four Olympic swimming medals for Australia, he finally decided that he was tired of living a lie. Kowalski was inspired by the coming out of rugby league player Ian Roberts, Olympic gold medal winner diver Matthew Mitcham and international rugby champ Garth Thomas.

Picture of Australian Olympic Swimmer Comes Out! [source:perezhilton.com]

And it really got me thinking that I could do that [come out] if I wanted to. I felt really compelled to do it [come out] because it's very tough to live a closeted existence, said Daniel.

He just wanted to help out those that might be afraid of announcing who they really are!

"I just want them to realize that they are not alone, that the feelings that they have are probably quite common and that at the end of the day it's really OK. There will be hard times but you surround yourself with great supportive people who love you for you and you'll be OK.

Things pop in my head that make me realize that I clearly suppressed these thoughts of being gay because it was 'wrong', as a male it's 'wrong' but even more as an elite athlete.

I always knew that I lacked confidence when I stood up on the blocks and I do wonder sometimes if that lack of confidence was fear, fear of not really knowing who I am.

On the sporting side, I lost to some amazing champions, so I'm not for one second saying that this is the reason I didn't win. I often wonder if the lack of self confidence and lack of identity in many ways held me back from reaching my potential.

I look for all the things straight people do, I want to fall in love and be happy and be proud of who I am.[source:perezhilton.com]