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Mark Tewksbury (b. February 7, 1968) is a Canadian swimmer and public figure. He is best known for winning the gold medal in the 100 Meter Backstroke at the 1992 Summer Olympics. He is also notable for coming out as gay a few years later. Raised in Calgary, Alberta Tewksbury trained at the University of Calgary.
He attended the 1988 Summer Olympics in Korea and won a silver medal as part of Canada’s relay team. He soon became one of the top backstrokers of all time by repeatedly breaking his own world records. Never a strong below the water swimmer he was unmatched on the surface but as the importance of below the water swimming increased Tewksbury’s ranking began to fall.
Going into Barcelona Tewksbury was ranked fourth in the world and most pundits picked one of the powerful American swimmers to win gold. Tewksbury gold medal was Canada’s first at the Barcelona games and the first Canadian gold in swimming since the Communist boycotted 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Tewksbury also won a bronze medal in the relay event in Barcelona.
After the games Tewksbury retired from swimming. He received a number of high profile endorsements deals and went to work for the IOC. He did not like the work with the IOC and in 1998 quit, accusing it of rampant corruption. Only months after the scandal surrounding the Salt Lake City games broke, Tewksbury became prominent around the world as a critic of the IOC and demanded reforms to the system.
In December 1998 Tewksbury announced to the Canadian media and people that he was gay. He was the first Canadian athlete to voluntarily state his homosexuality and his admission drew great public attention. Tewksbury became a prominent advocate for gay rights and gay causes in Canada and the world, including strong support for the Gay Games.
Tewksbury remains a public figure working as a motivational speaker, a television commentator for swimming events, and a continued activist.
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