When Michael Gunning<\/strong> started swimming as a kid, he never assumed there was anything different about his presence. The native of Kent, England, didn\u2019t see a lot of fellow people of color in the greater London area where he swam. He didn\u2019t see Black faces alongside him on the Great Britain youth national teams.<\/p>\n

But to him, that was mere coincidence. He didn\u2019t feel different on pool decks, didn\u2019t perceive different treatment from coaches, didn\u2019t feel an inherent sense of otherness because of the color of his skin, even as it stood in contrast to the default whiteness of British swimming at the time.<\/p>\n

$\"Training\"$
Michael Gunning; Photo Courtesy: Joe White<\/p><\/div>\n
It wasn\u2019t until he got older, when other people\u2019s assumptions and stereotypes were foisted upon him, that he realized the difference in how he saw his swimming identity to how others viewed it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was mainly at school where I would come in smelling of chlorine and people were like, \u2018why are you swimming? Black people don\u2019t swim,\u2019\u201d Gunning told Swimming World last week. \u201cI think it was from all those school people and my school friends that kind of made me question whether what I was doing was right and should I pick another sport and was I going to be good enough, was I going to make it? When I was representing Team GB, I never really questioned it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gunning\u2019s journey in the pool has been a pointed dismissal of anyone who doubted or sought to marginalize him. Gunning has proved himself good enough in the pool time and again, competing for Jamaica in the last two World Championships and the Pan American Games, and chasing a berth in next summer\u2019s Tokyo Olympics. As a Black man in an overwhelmingly white sport, as a gay man who came out in 2018, Gunning has surmounted the artificial limitations many would erect to say what he can and can\u2019t do.<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old has done that with a unique blend of joy and defiance, the passion for his craft and the desire to prove others\u2019 aspersions wrong. In many ways, it\u2019s two sides to the same coin.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to inspire as many people as I can,\u201d Gunning said. \u201cI\u2019m on this journey, I\u2019m doing what I love and I\u2019m doing pretty well at it, and if I can inspire as many people on the journey as I can, then great. And I knew by me swimming for Jamaica, it would, I suppose, create history and change so many other peoples\u2019 mindset on sexuality, on being a black swimmer and changing the mold a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Joy of Swimming<\/h4>\n
Michael Gunning was in Manchester Arena on the night of May 22, 2017. He and a friend were among some 14,000 attendees of an Ariana Grande concert<\/a> when a suicide bomber detonated an improvised explosive device, killing 22 people, wounding more than 800 and damaging countless children and young adults.<\/p>\n
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Still in shock & devastation over what happened on Monday night ? My heart goes out to all those that have been effected & lost loved ones!! No one can explain this feeling right now, just feel incredibly lucky to have witnessed what I did & still get out in one piece. #prayformanchester???? @arianagrande ? xx<\/a><\/p>\n
A post shared by Michael Gunning<\/a> (@michaelgunning1) on May 24, 2017 at 5:26am PDT<\/time><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n