Mark Foster memoir 'My Double Life' recounts swimming career and coming out

Mark Foster, the former world champion swimmer and BBC commentator, has released his memoir 'My Double Life'. Born in Billericay, Essex in 1970, Foster won 51 major international medals including six world titles and two Commonwealth Games golds, and broke eight world records. He represented the UK at five Olympic Games. In the memoir, he reflects on his early swimming motivation from his mother, a childhood fear of sharks after watching 'Jaws' that made him a sprinter, and his struggles with his sexuality. Foster was sent to Millfield boarding school at 13 but was asked to leave after falling out with the coach, then expelled from Kelly College. Despite this, he broke the British 50m freestyle record at 15. After his first Olympics in Seoul 1988, he worked as a courier, groundsman, lifeguard, and double glazing fitter, thinking his swimming career was over. At 21, his first boyfriend Vince supported him for a year, allowing him to focus on swimming. Foster came out to his mother in the 1990s and publicly in 2017. He participated in 'Strictly Come Dancing' in 2008. Now 56, he lives a less chaotic life, exercising for enjoyment rather than extreme training.