| After years of standing in front of the world wearing only a Speedo, Mark Tewksbury is baring it all.
In his new book, Inside Out: Straight Talk From a Gay Jock, the former Olympic gold medallist discusses everything – from growing up gay in the southwest Calgary community of Cedarbrae, to his Olympic triumphs, to his coming out, to his efforts for social change and successful career in communications.
In Inside Out, Tewksbury describes the difficulties of his life in intimate detail. He manages to transcend the typical sports biography genre and create something that gives people not just a glimpse, but a full view of an extraordinary life.
Tewksbury is proud of the fact that the book was written without the aid of a ghostwriter. He feels that the book captures both his sense of humour and his ability to be honest without holding back.
"The joy of writing it, for me, is that I got to let people into my head and my feelings and create that outside environment that you can hopefully see or feel yourself in," he says.
Tewksbury proves to be a master of anecdotes as he brings the same level of storytelling energy to both a meeting with a hustler and a confrontation with Sabrina the Teenage Witch in a buffet line.
One challenge for Tewksbury was writing the book in such a way that it wouldn’t alienate either his gay or straight audiences.
"I think I’ve been able to capture my experience from a gay perspective in a way that will hopefully bridge both the gays that will read this and go, ‘ Yes I felt that isolation, that degradation,’ but also the heterosexual community that will say, ‘Wow, I get a real insight into how that must have felt and maybe I’m going to change how I act in some of these situations,’" Tewksbury says. "I wanted to make sure that my mom and her friends could read it as well as all of my gay friends."
Though he came out publicly in 1998, six years after his gold medal performance in Barcelona, Tewksbury says that he feels that with this book he is coming out on a much larger scale.
"It’s a little bit terrifying all over again, because it’s like coming out first to my family, then to the country and now to the world," he says.
When Tewksbury came out in 1998, he thought that he would be only the first of many athletes, but few have followed and the mentality in sports towards gays has not progressed along with much of society.
"I remember at the time thinking, ‘OK, in 10 years this won’t be a big deal,’ and here we are eight years later and still not much has changed," he says.
Tewksbury hopes that competitions like the Montreal Outgames – for which he is co-president – will lead to growing acceptance of gay and lesbian athletes. He believes that within the next five years, there will be changes, but it will take a supportive team to break the barrier in organized team sport.
Tewksbury’s humanitarian efforts have taken him around the world, culminating in 2005 when he was given the International Person of the Year Award at Sao Paulo Pride in Brazil, in front of 2.5 million people, an award that he ranks up with his Olympic gold medal. However, his honourary doctorate from the University of Western Ontario tops them both, as it encompassed all of his many roles.
Inside Out manages to show all of these facets. He says that one goal that he had with the book was to show that he was more than just a gay swimmer –he hasn’t swum in 14 years.
"The thing that I wanted to show in the book is that many people see me in one light and I’ve had such a diverse life."
This life has included being an analyst at the Athens Olympics, an inspirational speaker and the host of the Discovery Channel’s How It’s Made.
"The book is not just a coming out story, but one of integration and just being. The first part is that challenge of being who you are, and then it’s about really understanding that, once you’re comfortable in your own skin, you still have to stand up for the things you believe, whether you’re gay or straight." |
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