Team GB curler Bruce Mouat says he had to come out as it was affecting his game
Bruce Mouat of Team Great Britain has said his game improved after he came out. (Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
Team GB curler Bruce Mouat has said he had to come out, as keeping it a secret was affecting his game.
In a video interview for BBC Sport ahead of the men’s curling final, Mouat, who won silver in 2022 and is on Team GB this year in the Olympic Winter Games, opened up about coming out and how it helped him improve his game.
“Coming out was a tough time for me,” he admitted, adding: “The first ever person I told was actually a sports psychologist because I wasn’t really performing very well.”
He continued: “I wasn’t really enjoying my curling. But I really think that it helped me to feel comfortable within the team environment and now, 12 years later, I’m going to my second Olympics feeling pretty good about myself.”
Mouat came out to his teammates in 2014 at the age of 19. In 2021, he met his partner, Craig. In the video, he explained that Craig had “no idea what curling was”.
‘I am maybe now a role model’
“I think he used a chat-up line of like, ‘how do I break the ice?’ in his first couple messages,” he recalled. “So I knew from that point that he was pretty goofy… Since then, he’s absolutely loved curling.”
He said of gay men in sport: “There’s not many out gay men in sport, especially in Great Britain, but I think there is a sense that I am maybe now a role model. And, you know, I don’t take that lightly.
“I’ve had so many messages of people that have maybe struggled with participation in sports, that they’re now feeling encouraged because of what they’ve seen that I’ve been able to do on the elite side of the sport.”
On Thursday (19 February), Mouat’s team overcame Switzerland in the men’s semi-final with a 8-5 victory. Team GB will take on Canada in the final on Saturday evening.
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