Finnish Olympic swimmer Ari-Pekka Liukkonen has spoken about his homosexuality in an interview with Yle. He said he wanted to talk publicly about his sexuality close to the Sochi Olympic games, because of Russia’s controversial anti-gay legislation.

Sochi 2014


Liukkonen has considered coming out for a long time, but decided to make his move now to highlight the issue ahead of Russia’s hosting of the winter Olympics in Sochi.

“I wanted to start a broader discussion in connection with Sochi, because it’s sad that the legislation in Russia restricts the human rights of young people and others,” Liukkonen told Yle.

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