Sophie McKinna is a six-time nationwide shot put champion who represented Group GB on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and has contested world, European and Commonwealth finals. Final yr, she selected to talk publicly about her sexuality for the primary time. As a part of BBC Sport’s Satisfaction Month sequence, she shares her story.
A cheerful athlete is a performing athlete. Any athlete will let you know that.
When you’ll be able to be your self, to be pleased and free, performances comply with. Final month I produced my furthest throw in two years.
I want I had spoken overtly about my sexuality years in the past – and I would undoubtedly say to my youthful self ‘get a transfer on’.
I’m a totally totally different individual since I first spoke overtly [about being gay] on The LGBT Sport Podcast in April 2023. Now I am now not anxious. There is not any extra paranoia. I publish overtly on social media, one thing I had by no means performed beforehand.
It was a choice I weighed up for effectively over a yr. To anybody in an identical place I’d say undoubtedly do it, do not hesitate. It was one of the crucial liberating experiences for me.
I by no means really feel like I’ve to cover myself in conditions anymore. I now not have the stress and anxiousness. Myself and my companion are at the moment planning our wedding ceremony, which is one thing I’d by no means beforehand have dreamed of claiming overtly as a result of I used to be so anxious about what folks would suppose.
