{"id":90274,"date":"2024-07-08T13:00:05","date_gmt":"2024-07-08T13:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/08\/the-track-star-knew-he-was-gay-now-everyone-else-does\/"},"modified":"2024-07-08T13:00:06","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T13:00:06","slug":"the-track-star-knew-he-was-gay-now-everyone-else-does","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/08\/the-track-star-knew-he-was-gay-now-everyone-else-does\/","title":{"rendered":"The Track Star Knew He Was Gay. Now Everyone Else Does."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Trey Cunningham found those first few phone calls excruciating. He has spent his life learning to keep his cool while out on the track, under intense pressure, in the glare of the crowd. But as he waited in the quiet for his family and his friends to pick up, waited to tell them he is gay, he found himself dripping with sweat. It was, he said, the \u201cscariest thing I\u2019ve ever done.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went through with it, at age 20, for much the same reason he is discussing it publicly now, five years later. There is a technique that Cunningham has long used in his training. \u201cWe say our goals out loud,\u201d he said. \u201cIf there\u2019s something we want to achieve, we say it. Putting something in words makes it real.\u201d<\/p>\n

That Cunningham \u2014 one of the leading high hurdlers in the world \u2014 is ready, and willing, to do that does not make him unique. He is not the first elite athlete, or even the first top<\/a> American runner<\/a>, to discuss their sexuality. <\/p>\n

As one of the few active male athletes who have been comfortable enough to come out, Cunningham is, though, still a rarity. \u201cThere are lots of people who are in this weird space,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re not out. But it is kind of understood.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n