The laid-back nature of his announcement belies how exceedingly rare it was for Nassib to come out at all. Those leagues have, combined, had nearly four centuries between them and tens of thousands of players. The swell of support so far for Nassib might just cause the professional sports world to examine its culture more closely, said Wade Davis, a retired player who trained with some NFL teams during preseasons before coming out in retirement. Regular exposure to slurs or stereotypes eventually reinforces among players that their success as an athlete is tied to an idea of masculinity that excludes gay men, he said.

Harvard Athletics has suffered a series of scandals in the past few years. Most recently, Harvard dismissed Brand in July after an independent inquiry into the sale of his Needham, Mass. Though University President Lawrence S.

By Reuters Staff. YAOUNDE Thomson Reuters Foundation - Cameroonian athlete Thierry Essamba still trains every day, even though he has little hope of reviving a career cut off when he was ousted from the national squad in a scandal over homosexuality. The year-old hurdling champion was training for the Commonwealth Games when a senior sports official told a crowd of journalists and fellow athletes that he was gay - a career-ending slur in a country where homosexual acts are illegal.