A British Olympic hopeful has come out as gay in an interview with BBC, saying he hope his announcement will help other athletes feel comfortable revealing their sexuality.

Race walker Tom Bosworth became the first British track athlete to come out as gay when he revealed his sexuality to the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire in an interview broadcast today online.

Bosworth told Derbyshire that he feels now is the right time to come out so his preparations for next year’s Rio Olympics are not overly affected.

He also said that he hopes his announcement will help more athletes feel comfortable enough to reveal their sexuality.

Bosworth, 25, praises diver Tom Daley’s bravery for coming out and says Mo Farah has been very supportive, but reveals other athletes and rivals in the past have insulted him.

“I don’t want this to define me,” he said.” I don’t want to be known as ‘the gay track and field athlete’ – I want to go and win medals. I want to go and compete at major championships and become an Olympian, but definitely this is me.”

“I feel I need to help and support other people and if speaking out, speaking about this is a way to do that, then that really makes me happy.”

The full interview is available here.