World champion pole vaulter Shawn Barber comes out as gay

Announces on Facebook: ‘Gay and proud!’

Canadian Olympic pole vaulter Shawn Barber took to Facebook on Monday (24 April) to announce to the world that he is gay.

‘Gay and proud!’ the 22 year old wrote in a brief post.

‘Thank you to my parents for being such a great support. I continue to grow as a person and have a great support group. My parents are my greatest support and have helped me through a lot recently. To my friends, you are always my friends and I love you too!’

Barber finished tenth last summer at the Rio Olympics.

A year earlier, he had won the world championship in the pole vault.

While competing for the University of Akron, Barber set the NCAA indoor record in the pole vault at 5.19 meters.

Outsports notes that ‘Barber instantly becomes one of the highest-profile and most successful current openly gay athletes anywhere in the world.’

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