Mark Foster is among the most successful British swimmers of all time specialising in butterfly and freestyle at 50 meters. He has also broken eight world records during his career. His swimming career has spanned over 20 years making him one of the most enduring competitors the UK has ever had - with a very special talent for butterfly and freestyle at 50 meters. In he competed in his fifth Olympic Games in Beijing and - to recognise this incredible feat - his team-mates voted that he should carry the British flag at the opening ceremony.
Mark Foster was born in Billericay in before his family moved to Southend when he was just two years old. It was in Southend that he was first taught to swim by the mother of Sarah Hardcastle and he was the fastest swimmer in the country by the age of He was first selected for the British team in and his big breakthrough came in when he won bronze in the Commonwealth Games in Auckland.
His career as an Olympic class athlete saw him win 47 international medals. He can now talk about his private life on his own terms. I had girlfriends. I never had a boyfriend. But I had sexual experiences with boys. At swimming competitions I would go with women to divert attention from the real me. But I accepted I was gay when I fell in love with my first partner, Vincent. A year later I told Mum. She cried at first because her immediate reaction was thinking no grandkids and what had she done wrong?
But after five minutes she showed unconditional love. I was never in that dark place. But I always hid it as a swimmer. Foster once lived in Bath with Colin Jackson — the Olympic silver medallist and former world champion hurdler. Jackson came out this year. Foster and Jackson must have spoken about being secretly gay Olympians when sharing a flat? It was bizarre. Colin was like me — no girlfriends — but we never spoke about his life.
He knew my life and met my partner. We shared a flat for two years. But in that period we were in the flat together maybe 10 nights. He was training and racing, and I was doing the same.
We were just good mates. What I found fascinating was that we went on holiday to New York and Toronto to see his mates. I was training in Germany with my mate Neil Willey and Therese Alshammar, one of the most decorated swimmers of all time.
Once, pissed in this nightclub, I was dancing close to Therese. Neil sat at the bar giving me this look of thunder because he was seeing her. They met my partner and we went on holidays together.
Men Butterfly. Mar 26, Mar 27, Jan 2, FIN, Espoo. Jan 31, Feb 1, Feb 5, Feb 4, Feb 11, Feb 19, Feb 18, Jan 24, Jan 23, ITA, Imperia. Feb 7, Feb 10, GBR, Glasgow. Jan 29, AUS, Sydney. Jan 22, Jan 21, Feb 27, GER, Berlin. Jan 14, Jan 13, Jan 17, SWE, Stockholm. Jan 25, Jan 18, Jan 27, USA, New York. Nov 23, AUS, Melbourne. Dec 8, Dec 7, Jan 26, European Championships. Aug 3,
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