Swimmer heading for Commonwealth Games hopes to challenge racial stereotypes

A young black swimmer heading for this summer's Commonwealth Games hopes to inspire others to take up the sport - and to challenge some stereotypes at the same time.

Michael Gunning, from Kent, hopes to use the games, being held in Birmingham in July and August, to bring positive change.

He said as a young person he encountered negative attitudes about black swimmers.

"The stereotypes that are going around are quite hard to take. I got told that black people don't swim, that my bones sink in water. Hopefully I am living proof that isn't the case at all, we can do whatever we put out mind to, and I am extremely passionate about trying to prove those stereotypes wrong."

He said he also suppressed his sexuality for a long time before coming out as gay on the tv programme The Bi Life.

Michael, 27, told ITV Meridian: "Nowadays mental health is talked about a lot more, but I felt extremely lonely when I was younger. There was nobody that acted like me, there was nobody that was talking about what I was going through."

Now a Pride ambassador at the games, he added: "It wasn't until Tom Daley and different athletes around me started to be their authentic self that I had that representation.

"Since coming out and being open and talking about it my performance in the pool has seen a massive improvement and hopefully I can be that role model that I never really saw growing up."

WATCH: Michael Gunning talks to ITV Meridian

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