Compared to how I have raced before and how I have competed, the success that I have had, this does look like doom compared to it.

For myself, losing is not coming second. It's getting out of the water knowing you could have done better. For myself, I have won every race I've been in

Part of me didn't know if Australia wanted its champion to be gay.

Sometimes we question things that we have done in our lives but how many times do we question what we haven't done in someone else's?

Im pleased to say that in telling them, and especially my parents, they told me that they love me and they support me. And for young people out there, know that thats usually what the answer is.

I think it's better to attempt something and fail than it is to not even attempt it, so I'm glad that I've been prepared to put myself on the line there.

When I go out and race, I'm not trying to beat opponents, I'm trying to beat what I have done ... to beat myself, basically. People find that hard to believe because we've had such a bias to always strive to win things. If you win something and you haven't put everything into it, you haven't actually achieved anything at all. When you've had to work hard for something and you've got the best you can out of yourself on that given day, that's where you get satisfaction from.