Former Olympic hurdler Colin Jackson comes out as gay

Colin Jackson, the former Olympian and now BBC pundit, has come out as gay in an interview with Swedish TV. The two-time 110m world champion hurdler told SVT series Rainbow Heroes that he had not spoken about it previously in public because of fears the media would "sensationalise" the story.

He also revealed the moment he told his parents after a 'kiss-and-tell story' was sold to the tabloid press.

  “I was waiting for them in the kitchen. They walked in and they sat down. My mother could see my face and I was quite distraught,” he told presenter Anna Blomqvist. “It didn’t faze 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."
Jackson told The Voice in 2008 that there was no longer a stigma against gay athletes: "It's the 21st century. I don't think anybody thinks about that any more. There might have been a stigma in years gone by."