British gymnastics star, Louis Smith has become a rising celebrity thanks to his multiple silver and bronze wins at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. Besides his Olympic skills, Smith’s fame has also been growing thanks to his handsome face, hot body and dashing style. The red hot pommel horse star recently stripped down to a powder blue speedo for the cover of Britain’s Gay Times, in which he talked about everything from LGBT rights to his guy crush on Will Smith.
In the feature, Smith discussed his support of marriage equality and questioned why love and sex outside of heterosexuality isn’t seen as “natural.”
“What is ‘natural’? If someone says to you ‘act normal’ – what is ‘normal’? You can’t be defined. If you fall in love with someone you fall in love with someone,” said Smith.
The gymnast also discussed sexuality in sports and claimed that there is extreme pressure for those LGBT athletes to remain in the closet.
“Expectation – no matter what it is – tends to build up pressure and nerves,” said Smith. “I had an expectation on me to perform and to achieve certain results in the games. I think if you’re in a sport that’s deemed as a man’s sport you have that expectation to be straight. That’s a lot of pressure to carry on your shoulders.”
However, Smith added that there was less pressure to be straight in his own sport, which is traditionally seen as less hyper-masculine than other sports.
“You know there’s been a lot of people that’ve come out in gymnastics… because you’re always wearing a leotard, it’s a very artistic sport, it’s not rolling around on the floor getting muddy, so I don’t think there’s that much pressure,” said Smith.
Although Smith isn’t gay, he was clearly comfortable discussing sexuality and even offered up his idea of the ideal guy he’d date, if he were gay.
“I got asked this the other day… I said Will Smith. Because he’s very dedicated to his family, he’s very loyal, funny, hard working and talented. So, in the most non-sexual way, it would have to be based on the person,” said Smith.
Considering Smith’s stance on LGBT issues, we’re sure he’d take Smith’s words as a compliment – as long as the other Smith didn’t try to kiss him.
Check out some other LGBT allies in sports below. – nicholas robinson
