Divng champ Tom Daley comes out
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Gaybutton
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Rogie
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Re: Divng champ Tom Daley comes out
This was on British TV news last night. I wonder if his chosen sport, diving, is the main reason why, we are told, his sexuality has come in for speculation over the years (I say that as I have no idea what his private life is like away from the swimming arena). Diving competitions involve a lot of young men and boys dressed only in speedos performing marvellous feats of aerial athleticism, but, unlike in the pool competitions - the freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke races - diving has a much more 'hey look at me' kind of element to it. So it's not viewed as a traditional race as such but as an individual showing off, almost in slow motion, his undoubted fabulous ability (with sinuous body to match), in all it's glory. There's a bit of the voyeur in all this as well. I would imagine even heterosexual men can appreciate the body of a young athlete. Of course Tom was a diving prodigy, living in a bit of a vacuum, well before he might have been expected to start dating, so clearly, so it seems reasonable to me, his early decision to get involved in diving had nothing to do with his sexuality. On the other hand, no doubt if he'd chosen some other sport, gymnastics for example, being a 'dry' version of diving, he's have come under the microscope in a similar way. These days anyone in the spotlight comes in for the media treatment, and the more successful you are the more crap you have to try and fend off.
No mention of who the other man is, and I'd like to think it stays that way. I suspect it'll be a little like the relationship between the British royal family (the 'royals') and the press. Every so often they get so fed up with paparazzi the come to a deal. We'll give you access for a photo op, but after that please leave us alone. Do they leave them alone? Maybe for a while, but the temptation is just too great, some rogue cameramen just can't resist - they know even if the craven British tabloid press steer clear there'll always be a foreign magazine that'll pay their extortionate demands. So, far from leaving him alone now he's done his part of the 'deal', I suspect poor old Tom's private life will be constantly under scrutiny, and an element of the press will leave no stone unturned until they've ransacked every available angle on this.
No mention of who the other man is, and I'd like to think it stays that way. I suspect it'll be a little like the relationship between the British royal family (the 'royals') and the press. Every so often they get so fed up with paparazzi the come to a deal. We'll give you access for a photo op, but after that please leave us alone. Do they leave them alone? Maybe for a while, but the temptation is just too great, some rogue cameramen just can't resist - they know even if the craven British tabloid press steer clear there'll always be a foreign magazine that'll pay their extortionate demands. So, far from leaving him alone now he's done his part of the 'deal', I suspect poor old Tom's private life will be constantly under scrutiny, and an element of the press will leave no stone unturned until they've ransacked every available angle on this.