Swimmer Daniel Kowalski. Credit:Craig Golding He explains that he has done so 10 months after retiring, in part to let young gay athletes know that they are not alone. He also wants to tell the broader sporting community that gossip and ''jokes'' about sexuality peddled in locker rooms are homophobic and hurtful. Posting an email address at the end of his YouTube clip enabled hundreds of people to send him their congratulations - among them were an AFL coach and several current players. ''I went from someone who has never been in the public eye in the slightest to someone experiencing a tidal wave of complete positivity,'' Johnston says. By coming out, Johnston joins an exclusive club of elite Australian athletes. In our sports-obsessed nation, in which it is estimated 10 per cent of the population is homosexual, it is telling that only three other elite male athletes have come out: Olympic diver Matthew Mitcham, Olympic swimmer Daniel Kowalski and rugby league player Ian Roberts.

Rugby leage player Ian Roberts. For lesbians the landscape is even more sparse. Of Australian women who have played sport at an elite level, only former Olympic cyclist Michelle Ferris has publicly talked about being gay. There is a widespread assumption that many elite female athletes are lesbian - indeed, many people spoken to for this article identified significant numbers of current and former Australian sportswomen who are lesbian. But it is impossible to name one for fear of unintentionally outing her. Cyclist Michelle Ferris. Credit:Craig Sillitoe Yet in Australian public life it is no longer a career-ending move to be ''out''. Penny Wong, Bob Brown and former state Liberal MP Andrew Olexander (in politics), Josh Thomas and Ruby Rose (entertainment), former High Court judge Michael Kirby and former head of the Australian Medical Association Dr Kerryn Phelps are among those who are public about their private lives.

Sport is the last bastion of public life in Australia in which same-sex attraction is kept under wraps. The last closet in which it is safer to stay silent than speak up. Elite Australian athletes who are gay or lesbian mostly play it straight. Tennis player Martina Navratilova. Overseas, professional athletes are gradually starting to come out, among them English cricketer Steven Davies, former Wales rugby captain Gareth Thomas and retired American basketballer John Amaechi. Women such as Martina Navratilova and Amelie Mauresmo did not hide their sexuality during their tennis careers. But homosexuality in Australian sport is, as US academic Mariah Nelson put it, ''a silence so loud it screams''. The AFL is the only professional male sporting code in the Western world in which not a single current or past player has come out, according to Victoria University senior sports lecturer Caroline Symons. Diver Matthew Mitcham.

For male athletes, in particular, sport is a potentially lucrative, extremely heterosexual environment. There is a perception there is a lot to lose by coming out - being deselected from playing is the first fear. But as the experiences of Johnston, Kowalski and Mitcham attest, the consequences are not as dire as some fear. Each sportsman has had an overwhelmingly positive response since publicly revealing they are gay. It is harder to learn about the experiences of gay elite sportswomen. Several lesbian athletes were contacted either directly or by third parties for this story. Ferris was the only woman prepared to speak publicly. Other former athletes declined to speak, even anonymously. ''In sport, lesbians are everywhere and at an elite sport level lesbians are everywhere, but we're invisible,'' says former Gay Games board member Kate Rowe.

Does such silence matter? If gay and lesbian athletes choose to keep their sexual orientation private, ought it be an issue? Kowalski and Johnston believe it is. In their experience, the lack of peers to talk to about the difficulties they were experiencing as young gay men in the midst of strongly heterosexual sporting cultures left them feeling lonely and, ultimately, depressed. Both grappled with suicidal feelings. ''It led to some really dark times because you feel isolated and loneliness on top of whatever else you've got going on in your life and sport, and I think that's really dangerous,'' Kowalski says. ''You can call Lifeline or some other number and they're fantastic, but it's not the same as having face to face or real personal interaction to talk about things with - someone who has been in your position and understands.'' Symons has grappled with what it is about being an elite athlete that makes coming out such an apparently fraught step. She traces competitive sport back to its origins. ''Team sports were founded in the 1800s as institutions to turn boys into men,'' she says. Sport remains an arena where a conservative gender order is reinforced. The dominant male sporting codes in Australia are aggressively heterosexual and celebrate the perceived masculine attributes of power, speed and domination. In this macho environment, homosexuality is derided as a weakness. Symons has researched the experiences of gay athletes at junior and community levels and has heard of coaches deriding losing teams as ''playing like a pack of poofters'' or ''playing like girls''.

Conversely, team sports enable an unusual closeness among men. Victorious players embrace each other, though generally bring a hug to a close by butching it up with a backslap. ''It is the place in our culture where heterosexual men are permitted to be affectionate and close so long as homoerotic lines are not crossed,'' Symons says. Acknowledging homosexuality would threaten the established order, or so the belief goes. But there are signs this world view is under challenge. Chinks of light are shining into this last closet. Eric Anderson, professor of sports studies at the University of Winchester in England, has researched gay male athletes for years. He is optimistic today's young athletes lack the homophobia of many of their predecessors. Having grown up in a world in which gay relationships are normalised on popular television shows Glee and Modern Family, and in which public opinion has swung in support of gay marriage and equal rights, their world view is more relaxed, Anderson argues. ''My research clearly shows that team sport athletes do not have elevated rates of homophobia over non-team sport athletes; they probably did in the late '80s and early '90s but that is not the case any more.''

But the problem is that the people who run the sporting codes are mostly former players who grew up believing the negative myths and stereotypes about homosexuals, he adds. Symons outlines these myths: there is something wrong with gay people; they are not as good as straight people; they are soft; they have a predatory sexuality. She cites reports of remarks in 2008 by Hawthorn football club president Jeff Kennett in which he was alleged to have compared employing a bisexual football trainer to having a paedophile working as a masseur. ''I know Jeff Kennett was shouted down and what he implied was a total myth, a horrible myth, but for the older generation it still resonates.'' For cultural change to occur within Australian sport, leadership is required from sports administrators, Symons says. As to why so few male athletes come out once they retire, Anderson says: ''Whether you are an athlete or not, if you don't come out of the closet by your mid-20s then you seem to lose that ability. They feel it's too late for them, they're into their patterns and habits. These are the gay men who end up bringing their 'roommate' to Christmas for 20 years in a row and who are living in these 'don't ask don't tell' cultures.''

Kowalski, who waited until he retired before coming out publicly, suggests many retired gay athletes fear they have too much to lose by coming out. ''I get why if you're a footballer and you're a part of one club, you don't want to lose that. It is a part of your identity and with it comes a lot of great opportunities, networks and friendships and there would be a fear that you'd lose that if you come out. The sort of question that would play out in people's minds is: 'Would I still be welcomed at the club with open arms?''' The funny thing for Johnston is that he was. ''Everyone from young kids at the club to parents and life members have responded positively, it has been great.'' Mitcham went to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games an unknown, openly gay athlete, won a gold medal and returned a hero. His manager Robyn Watson agrees that on top of winning a gold medal, being gay helped put Mitcham on the map. Mitcham's sexual orientation has never jeopardised his sponsorship deals, she adds.

''I understand the fear; sport is such a male dominated industry in terms of viewers and participants,'' Watson says. ''But in fact we've had what might be regarded as conservative companies such as Coles and Telstra sponsor Matthew because of everything that he brings to the sport and the positivity he brings to the homophobic issue.'' Generous sponsorships are relatively thin on the ground in women's sport. Athletes struggle to win the media attention that attracts corporate dollars. This is one reason offered for the silence of lesbian sportswomen. American academics Vikki Krane and Kerrie Kauer say lesbian athletes experience ''conditional tolerance'': their teammates and sports officials know they are gay, their partners may even attend sports events, but with this acceptance comes the implicit understanding - ''don't flaunt it''. They write: ''Because lesbians are stereotyped as 'butch' or masculine-looking, it is assumed that their presence will hurt the status of women's sport.''

Women are not often celebrated for being strong and powerful. There is far more recognition of feminine beauty - witness the attention lavished on Brownlow night babes. There is a presumption that the ticket to media and sponsor interest for women is sex appeal and the fear is that acknowledging the presence of lesbians will spook those horses. This unspoken prejudice is coded as ''the image problem'' some women's sports are perceived to have, says Symons. Some sports have sought to compensate by insisting players wear skimpy uniforms or pose for suggestive calendars. Krane and Kauer identify other problems with such prejudice: ''Stereotypes about lesbians may lead parents to be suspicious of lesbian coaches. Parents may be concerned that lesbian coaches will be poor models, may influence their daughter to become a lesbian or may seduce their daughter.'' The academics note that parents have more reason to fear male coaches will act inappropriately towards their daughters.

In sporting cultures in which so few lesbian coaches or athletes are out, it is understandable that up-and-coming women players or administrators believe ''being open about one's sexual identity in sport is not safe and will lead to discrimination'', Krane and Kauer write. Symons says even the gay community mistakenly presumes that because there are so many lesbians in sport, even if not publicly, clubs offer a haven for them. ''It's harder to get the message across that things need to change and that the silence and conditional tolerance is damaging. And it's not good for all women and girls because of the stigma attached to being labelled a lesbian; it drives participation in sport down.'' Rowe is in charge of finding high-profile gay and lesbian athletes to act as ambassadors for the Gay Games. It is an enduring surprise to her that it is so difficult to convince retired lesbian athletes to sign up. Ferris, who is an ambassador, can't say why so many lesbian athletes stay silent. But she says that while it was no secret she was gay when she won her silver medals at the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics, she never spoke about it publicly at the time.

''Whenever I was interviewed after a race during my career, the journalists always asked me about my performance, no one ever asked if I was gay. If that question had been asked, I would have answered it honestly. I've never been afraid of who I am. But when you're talking about your race results, you're not going to add on at the end, 'By the way, I'm gay'.'' She agrees many journalists would feel such a question unnecessarily intrusive. The media does, however, often focus on a straight woman's male partner and children (as well as her appearance and how she scrubs up in formal attire), reinforcing the notion that for a woman to gain attention she must be appealing to men. Ferris, though, believes the tide is turning. She hopes coming out will be less of a big deal for today's athletes than it has been for their predecessors. ''It used to be a situation where if someone revealed that they were gay, people would be shocked and would say, 'Are you sure?' and 'Why are you telling me this?' You say it now and people go, 'Oh yeah'.''