Australia's
Olympic swimmer learns to live with gay rumors

Australian Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe, 23, told an Australian newspaper that rumors persist about his sexuality even though he is straight. Thorpe told Friday's edition of the Melbourne Herald Sun that he is heckled by strangers who shout homophobic epithets and make other jabs. "It's a downer, but you have to look at it from a logical point of view," he told the newspaper. "If someone screams a profanity at you and you don't know them, you just have to disregard it as you walk down the street, and that's what I have learned to do. They do [target my sexuality] to an extent," he said of the public. "But I think we're past that now. I think most people are over that most of the time." Thorpe, who is under intense media scrutiny in Australia, says he wants to return to obscurity once his career is over. "I am not an attention seeker. I by no means want to be more famous," he told the newspaper. "I live every day in the public eye, and I don't get the luxury of switching it on and off." Thorpe has revealed that he may retire from competitive swimming after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. (Advocate.com)