Australian swimmer Daniel Kowalski specialized in middle and long distance freestyle events – competing at Olympic level in 200m, 400m, and 1500m individual freestyle events and in the 4x200m freestyle relay.

Having announced his retirement from competitive swimming in 2002, Kowalski publicly confirmed that he was gay in 2010.

Figure skating star Johnny Weir loves Russia where he is immensely popular with fans.

But anti-gay laws in the country have him warning his fellow gay athletes when they participate in the Winter Olympics next year in Sochi, Russia.

US soccer star and Olympic gold medalist Megan Rapinoe decided that the time had come for her to be completely open about her sexuality.

So before competing in the Olympic Games in London, the 27-year-old midfielder on the US women’s soccer team came out publicly as a lesbian.

Rapinoe tells Gay Star News that she has had no regrets.

‘I think it’s just nice to be open, there’s no more sort of omitting anything,’ she says. ‘It’s living my life as an open book which is really nice.’

Amy, Lucio, and Baylen are back together again for homoLAB 56.

After being in the bubbles of the Olympics and Edinburgh, the team gather again to catch up on what happened this Summer and look forward to what's coming in the Autumn.

Plus the latest from Gay Star News, Outgames 2013, GB's best gay employers, and the best cities in the world for gay tourists.

Gay Olympian Greg Louganis will be guest of honor at South East Asia's first ever gay sports tournament.

The US athlete, who won two gold medals in diving in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics, will attend the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender games held at the national stadium in Kathmandu, Nepal, from 12 October to 14 October.

The 52-year-old who spoke publicly for the first time about being HIV positive earlier this month will join other gay athletes and artists, as well as international LGBT activists including Peter Tatchell.

A gay British TV presenter who fronted the BBC coverage of the Olympics has claimed  reality television feels different after the 2012 Games.

Clare Balding, 41, told Heat magazine the ‘fair’ and ‘brutal’ world of the Olympics has altered people's perception of the reality TV show genre.

'I watched The X Factor last Saturday. It just felt different,' she said.

'After the Olympics, we now really admire real people, achieving things that have taken a lot of training and dedication, and some hint of sacrifice.'

Openly gay diver Matthew Mitcham is clearly not letting his failure to repeat as Olympic champion get him down.

The 2008 Olympic champion in the 10 meter platform has left the London Games behind him and taken Italy by storm with his unique brand of musicianship.

Alternately playing the ukulele from a hotel window in Rome and riding a Segway around the city, Mitcham performs a glorious mash-up of Roam and Rome Wasn't Built in a Day.

Gay pop stars George Michael, Jessie J and Neil Tennant were part of the line-up of British singing talent given the honor of closing the London 2012 Olympics today (12 August).

Tennant, half of 80s pop group Pet Shop Boys with Chris Lowe, performed their classic West End Girls as part of a medley of music celebrating London. The scene was set a backdrop of the UK capital’s famous landmarks, covered in newsprint with celebrated quotes from British literature.

Stop right now, thank you very much, because the 90s superstar girlband Spice Girls are back for one night only.

In pictures revealed today (10 August), it shows Geri, Emma, Mel B, Mel C, and Victoria swinging it, shaking it, moving it and making it in rehearsals for the Olympics closing ceremony in London.

Pictures released on Twitter feed @SpiceWorldNet shows the fab five saying goodbye to London 2012 by dancing on the capital’s iconic black taxis.

Gay rights campaigners will hold a protest in London over Russia's ban on a Pride House event at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

Activists will picket the Sochi Exhibition in Kensington Gardens tomorrow (9 August), from 10.30am, to show their anger at the Russian Ministry of Justice's refusal to allow a Pride House at the games.

Russian lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender campaigners had planned the venue to be a meeting place for gay athletes and their supporters with events including a sports competition and photo exhibition.

Carl Hester, the only gay sportsman representing host nation Britain in the 2012 Olympics equestrian event, was part of the dressage team that won the gold medal today (7 August).

The win by Hester, Laura Bechtolsheimer and Charlotte Dujardin resulted in Britain's 20th gold medal of these Olympics. They finished in first place ahead of Germany in the competition at Greenwich Park.

It is the first medal for Hester who had gone home empty-handed at past Olympics in Athens, Sydney and Barcelona.