Homophobia is not something new in the sports world, but the 20-year-old Spanish artistic swimmer Dennis Gonzalez has raised his voice to say enough is enough and denounce the unjustified insults he has received after a video of his exercises and triumphs was published on the Teleporte account. Because far from praising the two golds that he has achieved these days in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, where the European Swimming Championships have been held, and where Rubí has shone in the artistic category of synchronized swimming individually and in the free mixed category with his partner Emma Garciasome users have unfortunately attacked him by calling him “faggot”, “mermaid”, “what a feather” or “trout”.
Luckily, Dennis is strong after his triumphs and has not remained silent. He wouldn’t have done it even under water. Not anymore. Thus, in a TikTok video that already has more than 170,000 views, González asked himself “if we are still in the 21st century or the 10th century BC.” The young man, who has admitted feeling “powerless” in the face of homophobic comments, has said about those who have insulted him: “They are people who have not won anything in their life, who have not achieved anything, who do not know what discipline is, who “He doesn’t know what work is, he doesn’t know what it means to be European champion, he doesn’t know what all that entails.”
Dennis admits in his video that “apart from the helplessness” that these messages generate in him, he doesn’t care about them because they are made by people who “contribute nothing to his life.” “It makes me very angry that these things are said. It doesn’t matter to me, but I know that a child who is starting to do artistic swimming and who receives comments like that is going to affect him and I don’t want that,” he insisted. His advice, “don’t pay attention to these messages, the only thing they are looking for is attention,” he commented before describing the comments as “absurd.” “I basically don’t care about these comments, but the day they affect someone and affect their decision, it will matter to me and I’m not going to stay silent,” he warned.
Unfortunately for Dennis this is not new. The young man already suffered bullying during his childhood. The son of an artistic coach and the brother of a swimmer, he started going to the pool when he was 12 years old. At first they signed him up for water polo, but what caught his attention was the plasticity of the training his mother did: he liked the artistic one. He fought for his dream and forgot the insults by getting into the water, where he found refuge. “I was afraid, but in the water problems disappear,” he felt. Now, with his medal on his neck, he has found the strength to raise his voice. This time, outside of it.
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