POV podcast: Mark Tewksbury on progress and problems in Olympic movement
After 25 years in sport spotlight, 1992 gold medallist is still tracking the ups and downs
For 25 years now, Mark Tewksbury has been dancing with the two-headed monster of fame.
His gold performance in the pool at the Barcelona Olympics launched him into the spotlights' glare, where he endured six conflicted years of waiting for Canada, sports, society, and his own private world to be ready for his step out of the closet.
That was back in 1998 and since then, Tewksbury has never stopped writing, working for athletes' causes, for the Olympic movement, and for the rights of LGBTQ competitors. Cut to present day, where he's in a position to discuss more than 25 years in the front row of modern sport history.
Mark joins Anastasia Bucsis on the Player's Own Voice podcast this week and offers up an unofficial report card on many fronts.
Queer athletes? Some sports are doing better than others — props to figure skating!
On the Olympic movement: Tewksbury wants the IOC to listen closely — he says executives can thank themselves for a tarnished reputation. Post-Sochi, particularly, the IOC has work to do on living up to their own ideals. Tewksbury is quick to point out that no matter who is responsible for past scandal, it is always the athletes who feel the effects.