Five-time champion trampolinist Luke Strong just came out as bisexual with a powerful message to homophobic bullies

Luke Strong, the 27-year-old five-time British champion trampoline gymnast, has come out as bisexual and said he "feels sorry" for homophobic bullies.

As well as becoming a British champion on five separate occasions, Strong is a world and European medallist, and won the "first British senior medal at a European level" for more than two decades.

In an interview with the BBC Sounds LGBT Sport Podcast , he explained that while this is the first time he has spoken publicly about his sexuality, his close friends and family have known for a while.

He said: "I’ve never hidden anything and I’m really open about the fact that I’m attracted to both sexes, male and female, but I’ve never been in a relationship with either of them so I don’t know."

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Luke Strong of the British Trampoline Team warms up for a training session at Lilleshall National Sports Centre in 2016. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty)[/caption]

Strong also discussed his experience of bullying at school when he began trampolining at the age of 11.

He said: "I think like most people in the LGBT+ community, growing up is always a little bit difficult.

"Especially wearing a leotard, doing gymnastics, doing the splits – you get the typical 'you’re a fairy' and the gay jokes and 'gymnastics is a girls' sport'. I had that growing up in school and then especially in high school it got a lot worse.

"There was a period of time in Year 8 and 9 where the bullying was kind of bad. I wouldn’t really talk about trampolining because I was embarrassed."

https://twitter.com/Luke_strong2/status/1104406465912160256

Strong said the bullying improved once his classmates saw him trampolining and began to "respect" the sport more.

He added: "On social media, you get your trolls every now and again, with homophobic abuse on comments or personal messages sometimes.

"But I honestly don’t even think about that ever. It doesn’t bother me: I feel sorry for people like that who are close-minded and still think it's offensive to be called gay — because it’s not."