| Hosts: Birmingham Dates: 28 July-8 August |
| Coverage: Watch reside on BBC TV with additional streams on BBC iPlayer, Red Button, BBC Sport web site and BBC Sport cellular app |
“It took 24 years to be who I used to be, however now I’m joyful. I look within the mirror and I like who I’m.”
A broad grin spreads throughout Dan Jervis’ face as he says these phrases.
Fresh from competing on the World Championships in Budapest, the Welsh distance swimmer is weeks away from his third consecutive Commonwealth Games. In Birmingham, he’ll look to add a 1500m freestyle gold to the bronze gained in Glasgow in 2014, and the silver earned on the Gold Coast 4 years in the past.
The self-described ‘Valley boy’ will go into the Games filled with confidence – having reached the 1500m last on his Olympic debut in Tokyo final 12 months, ending fifth.
But his positivity has been pushed as a lot by adjustments in his private life as occasions within the pool – with Jervis now prepared to speak publicly for the primary time concerning the truth he’s gay.
In two unique interviews with the BBC’s LGBT Sport Podcast and BBC Sport Wales, Jervis shares his story.
‘The swimming pools had shut – I used to be coaching for the Olympics in a lake’
In the small village of Resolven the place Jervis grew up, rugby guidelines.
But from the second his grandparents took him to the native pool, swimming was the game for him.
“My declare to fame is that I might do 10m with out armbands once I was one,” Jervis laughs.
“Swimming was my curiosity. It was the factor I’d gelled to and felt protected in, and I cherished that once I went to college, there weren’t every other swimmers I knew of. This sounds so dangerous, however I wasn’t probably the most educational and I cherished having one thing that I used to be higher at than the others.
“If you’d requested me 18 years in the past, my dream was all the time to go to the Olympics and win an Olympic gold medal – and it nonetheless is now.”
The Welshman achieved the primary a part of that dream in 2021, though as all of the Olympians in Tokyo discovered, preparation wasn’t straightforward. As the Covid pandemic induced the Games to be delayed for a 12 months, Jervis had to adapt his coaching.
“It was most likely probably the most worrying few months of my complete life,” Jervis admits.
“The swimming pools had shut, I’d moved house to my dad and mom and was utilizing the spin bike within the storage – after which when issues eased, I used to be coaching in a lake. I do not know the way everybody did it, however you simply do, and when you’ve received a aim, you may discover a means to get to it.
“I keep in mind standing in Tokyo, prepared to stroll out, listening to them welcoming the athletes for the Olympic 1500m freestyle last. My entire life had constructed in direction of that actual second, and I keep in mind considering to simply take it in.
“With an Olympics, you by no means know if it will occur once more, and I keep in mind every little thing about it.”
‘I could not even say ‘I’m gay’ – I used to be principally punching the phrases out’
Until at the moment, that’s been the Jervis the world knew – a proud Welshman, an Olympian, and one in all Britain’s high swimming stars.
Now he is prepared to speak concerning the truth he is gay as properly.
“Everyone’s journey is completely different, however I believe I’ve all the time identified,” Jervis says.
“It was one thing behind my thoughts, bugging me. I assumed I used to be bisexual and had girlfriends that I cherished – but it surely got here to about three years in the past the place I knew I had to cope with this.
“It wasn’t affecting my swimming, however me as a human being. It sounds fairly drastic, however I wasn’t having fun with my life. Yeah, I used to be smiling, however there was one thing lacking to make me correctly joyful.”
And so, over a protracted time frame, Jervis started telling these closest to him about his sexuality. As he says himself. on the age of 24 he lastly began to be who he was. He confided in a counsellor who he’d identified for years – after which it was his finest buddy, as they watched TV on the couch.
“At that level, I’d by no means mentioned the phrases out loud to myself,” Jervis, now 26, admits.
“I mentioned to her, ‘I believe I’m gay.’ I could not even say, ‘I’m gay.’ It was nonetheless… I could not say it. I used to be principally punching the phrases out.
“She was fairly shocked however nice, and it was precisely the response I wished. I’ve had all good reactions, and the way in which I’ve described it’s I’m not going to change as an individual.
“I’m nonetheless the Dan you have all the time identified. You simply know one thing else about me now.”
‘I want to be that individual for somebody’
It’s been the tales of earlier friends on the BBC’s LGBT Sport Podcast that have, partly, impressed Jervis to speak publicly about his sexuality.
“Michael Gunning is a swimmer and an absolute legend, and he mentioned I ought to come on to this present. I messaged hammer thrower Osian Jones about it as properly,” Jervis says.
“I additionally heard Mark Foster say on your podcast that he wished to add his weight to making individuals’s lives higher, and I really feel that as properly. When I used to be youthful in swimming, I wasn’t conscious of any out swimmers so did not have anybody I might look to who was like me. I want to be that individual for somebody.”
It’s not simply on this planet of sport the place Jervis is hoping he can be that role model.
“I’m a religious Christian,” the Welshman says.
“I like God, and out of all of the issues in my life my religion is what I’m most happy with. And there’s this factor the place individuals say you may’t be Christian and gay collectively, and I used to be sitting there figuring out you may be as a result of I’m!”
And so, in some ways, Jervis’ story is about proudly owning the completely different components of what makes him who he’s – his Welshness, his religion, his sexuality, his sporting success – and displaying that none of these issues are contradictory.
“It took me 24 years to be who I’m,” he says.
“I used to be adjusting to every little thing else, simply attempting to slot in – till I assumed: ‘Just be you.’
“You know, we’re simply earlier than the Commonwealth Games and there are going to be children and adults watching who will know that I’m like them, and that I’m happy with who I’m.
“And for so lengthy, I hated who I used to be – and also you see it on a regular basis, people who find themselves dying over this. They hate themselves a lot that they’re ending their lives.
“So if I can simply be that somebody individuals can take a look at and say, ‘yeah, they’re like me,’ then that’s good.”
Dan Jervis was talking completely to the BBC’s LGBT Sport Podcast and BBC Wales Sport. You can hear the complete dialog on BBC Sounds, and see extra on BBC Wales Today.
