Hartley Wintney Literary Festival presents
An Evening with Mark Foster at the Victoria Hall
Mark Foster is an English former competitive swimmer, broadcaster and public speaker. He is a five-time Olympian, six-time World Champion and eight-time World Record holder over a 23-year professional swimming career. Foster trains and inspires the next generation of competitive swimmers through the Mark Foster Swimming Academy and is also a spokesperson for the LGBTQ+ community, promoting compassion, equality and inclusion.
In My Double Life, five-time Olympian, six-time World Champion and eight-time World Record holder, Mark Foster details his pursuit of sporting prowess and finding the freedom to live his truth. If anyone was going to come out as gay at the height of their sporting career it should have been Mark Foster – a confident, laidback guy who does not care what anyone thinks.
So how is it that it took someone like him half a lifetime to come out? How far have we really come in terms of society’s approach to homosexuality and diversity in sport? From a Jack-the-lad from Southend being expelled from one of the most prestigious schools in the country to becoming the fastest man through water on the planet and a television favourite, Mark takes readers on his remarkable 30-year journey. Sharing both the serious and often comic tactics that enabled him to live a double life for so long and convince himself he was happy doing so.
Whether it’s his intimate coming out conversations, posing for a naked photo for the Elton John Aids Foundation, glittering appearances on Strictly Come Dancing or breaking eight world records in an unprecedented 20-year career in the pool, Mark reveals the other worldliness of being an Olympian.
This event is being held at the Victoria Hall as part of the first Hartley Wintney Literary Festival.
Tickets £10
