Mark Tewksbury burst onto the international scene following a thrilling come-from-behind victory in the 100-metre backstroke at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games. This gold-medal performance, the last one by a Canadian swimmer, capped a remarkable sixteen-year athletic career, which included three Olympic medals, four gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, seven world records, and a cover appearance on Time magazine. He was chosen as Canada’s Athlete of the Year and inducted into three major halls of fame. But in this celebrated life, all was not as it appeared.
Mark Tewksbury faced all the challenges of a high-performance athlete—the discipline, sacrifices, intense pressure, and post-Olympic transition. But he also had to overcome the difficult personal challenge of coming out as a gay man—first to his family and confidants, and then ultimately under the spotlight of the public eye. Tewksbury’s intense feeling of difference early in life paints a poignant and unique portrait of a complex individual.
Once the elite athlete, now an accomplished and natural storyteller, Tewksbury uses his own story—public and private—to offer a fascinating insight into the worlds of Olympic politics, media, fame, gay life, and sport leadership. He takes us from growing up gay in conservative western Canada, through the pain of keeping his true self a secret even as he was fêted on the world stage, and ultimately to coming out, being able to live his whole life to the fullest, and to make a difference in life.
Moving, humorous, motivational, sometimes painful, but always direct, Inside Out reminds us that living with integrity is not always straightforward, but is certainly worth an honest pursuit. More than one man’s compelling story, Inside Out is an inspiration for anyone facing a personal conflict, revealing that the most insurmountable challenges can be transformed into the ultimate triumph of a full life worth living.
