Former British athletics star, Colin Jackson, who denied being Gay in 2008, finally opened up about his sexuality during a Swedish TV interview. The track star made the revelation on a programme called Rainbow Heroes on Swedish broadcast, SVT.
Speaking with Swedish LGBT former athletes, high-jumper Kajsa Bergqvist and long-jumper Peter Häggström, Jackson, 50, admitted he remained silent for years because he never wanted the story “sensationalised”.
'The way you asked me, it was a whole storytelling kind of thing and you were just interested in the way it affected me sports-wise, emotionally-wise and my preparation.'
In 2006, the athlete became the subject of a kiss-and-tell story after a gay airline steward claimed to have had a secret affair with the star. Jackson denied the rumours in a 2008 interview with The Voice newspaper in which he said that he enjoyed being single. Speaking of the moment he revealed that he was gay to his parents, Jackson told SVT:
"I was waiting for them in the kitchen. They walked in and they sat down. My mother could see my face was quite distraught. It didn't phase them at all.
"I said 'it's in the paper about me and this bloke.' It didn't phase them at all. My mum went first of all 'is the story true?'
"And I said 'it's true, so it's not like I can deny it.' And then she went 'well, why are people so disgraceful?' "I just realised, I've got the best parents,' he said.
Colin Jackson who is currently a BBC pundit, is Britain's greatest hurdler of all time, but he never won Olympic gold despite being among the favourites in 1992 and 1996 and grabbing silver at the Seoul 1988 Games.
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