Daniel Kowalski

Daniel Kowalski born 2 July 1975

Born in Singapore, Daniel Kowalski is a former Australian middle- and long-distance swimmer specialising in freestyle events. He competed in the Olympic Games in 200m, 400m and 1,500m individual freestyle events and in the 200m freestyle relay. At the 1996 Summer Olympics, he was the first man in 92 years to earn medals in all of the 200m, 400m and 1500m freestyle events.

Kowalski was part of the world record-setting Australian gold medal 4 x 200m relay team at the 1998 Commonwealth Games.

In the 2000 summer Olympics he won a gold medal in the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay (Kowalski was replaced in the final by Ian Thorpe but as a swimmer in the qualifying heat, he shares the gold medal).

Kowalski announced his retirement from competitive swimming in May 2002. He studied sports marketing at Bond University, graduating in 2003. He was named as an assistant swimming coach at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2007, and also won the 2007 Pier to Pub 1.2km open water swim - the largest open water swim in the world - held annually in Lorne, Australia.

In May 2007 Daniel appeared as one of the celebrity performers on the Australian version of the celebrity reality singing competition It Takes Two.

In April 2010 Kowalski announced that he is gay, joining elite male Australian athletes who have announced that they are gay including retired NSW rugby league player Ian Roberts and Olympic gold-medal winning diver Matthew Mitcham. Kowalski says he was inspired to come out by Welsh rugby player Gareth Thomas, who announced in December 2009 that he was gay.

'I felt really compelled to do it because it's very tough to live a closeted existence, he said. In a statement issued at the time Kowalski talked of years of struggling to come to terms with his sexuality and his fear of the homophobia of professional sports, citing the few gay sportsmen who have spoken out as inspirational.