Hockey star Jon Lee-Olsen comes out as gay live on TV
"I'm ready to show that you can be gay and play ice hockey.”
By Will Stroude
Hockey star Jon Lee-Olsen made history last week after becoming just the third professional player in the world to come out as gay.
The 27-year-old athlete, who plays for Danish squad Rungsted Seier Capital , made the announcement during a live interview with Danish news programme Go’ aften, saying he was “ready to show that you can be gay and play ice hockey”.
Lee-Olsen joins Canada’s Brendan Burke and Sweden’s Peter Karlsson as just the world’s only out professional hockey players, as progress continues to be madely slowly but surely when it comes to embracing different sexualities in the world of sport.
“There’s a risk that some people might shout and heckle me while I’m playing matches”, Lee-Olsen said during the live broadcast (quotes via Out).
“It’s something I have to be ready for and be mature about. But I feel that I’m ready to show that you can be gay and play ice hockey.”
The sportsman added that he had come out to his teammates in August after years of hiding his sexuality, and was met with nothing but support.
“They wrote that they had great respect for the fact that I dared to say it, and that I was still just me,” he said.
“I think there is more openness among us now. Now we can talk freely about the same things from everyday life — without a filter.”