Scots curler Bruce Mouat was wearing his rainbow laces with pride yesterday in his bid for Olympic glory.
And he revealed that telling teammates that he is gay was the best thing he’s done.
The world No1 sports the laces on his shoes as he moves around the ice of Beijing 2022.
He was competing alongside lifelong friend Jen Dodds as they faced arch-rivals Norway in the mixed doubles semi-final.
Team GB chiefs revealed the rainbow laces have become part of Mouat’s competition ritual.
Mouat, 27, of Stirling, is bidding to become Team GB’s first medal of the Winter Olympics with Jen, 30, of Edinburgh and he also leads the British men’s curling side.
He said of coming out: “It was something I was scared to do at the time. I had been playing in juniors for a couple of years and I wasn’t really getting the success I was looking for.
“I was not being truthful about who I was with the guys I was playing with. We were obviously all teenagers – they all wanted to talk about girls and I just wasn’t able to participate in that conversation.
“I’d always kind of hid away and shied away from that. But after seeing how people could live their life as a gay person, it encouraged me to do it.
“You were seeing so many people having success and still being happy. It was a very freeing experience for me.”
Having already come out to friends and family, telling his teammates was the final hurdle, and he thanked the curling community for their support.
His advice to others who might be struggling to be themselves was to seek the support of loved ones.
Bruce and Jen lost 6-5 to Norway and face Sweden in a bronze match play-off in the early hours today.
At the summer Games in Japan, British diver Tom Daley told how finding happiness as a gay man in his personal life had helped him to achieve his lifelong ambition of winning Olympic Gold.
Men’s curling was introduced as a sport at the 1924 Olympics. The mixed doubles tournament was added in 2018.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
