Recently retired British Jamaican swimmer Michael Janning Aiming to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Gunning holds dual citizenship in Great Britain and Jamaica. The plan was to represent the last country in the Olympics.
– I saw representing my home country in the Olympics as a way to promote human rights, says Juning Watchman.
But a promising swimmer’s decision to swim for the Jamaican flag was not uncommon.
– I have received so many comments that they have shamed the country and that I should continue to swim for Great Britain.
A storm of hate broke out when Janning came out as gay two years ago, something that is criminalized in Jamaica and carries a prison sentence of up to ten years.
The reactions to him, as openly gay, and wanting to swim for Jamaica were so threatening that Gunning did not dare to travel there to visit his family and friends. A trip he took several times a year until 2018.
In the swimming sweatshirt Tom Daly New documentary series Tom Daly: It’s illegal to be me Finally, Janning boarded the plane to Jamaica with Daly at the start of the year, the first visit in four years.
– I was really terrified to come back. I got dressed because I didn’t want anyone to recognize me as “an international Jamaican swimmer who shouldn’t represent his country because of his sexual orientation.”
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