Shawn Barber, an out gay Olympian and world champion pole vaulter, has died at the age of 29. According to reports, Barber died on Wednesday at his home in Texas due to “medical complications.” https://twitter.com/TheAdvocateMag/status/1748752382912037318 As a student at the University of Akron, Barber won back-to-back NCAA indoor championships in 2014 and 2015 and the NCAA outdoor championship in 2015. Later that year, competing for his home country of Canada, he took home the gold medal at the Pan-Am Games and the world championship in Beijing. https://twitter.com/_OwenM_/status/1748089544686076264 He made the finals at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, ultimately coming in 10th. Over the years, he also took home a silver and bronze at the Commonwealth Games. According to the Associated Press, Barber’s best vault was six meters (19 feet, 8 ¼ inches) on Jan. 15, 2016, in Reno, Nevada. To this day, that remains the Canadian record. https://twitter.com/CydZeigler/status/1748125253279289685 Barber came out via a Facebook post in April 2017, writing:
“Gay and proud! Thank you to my parents for being such a great support. I continue to grow as a person and have a great support group. My parents are my greatest support and have helped me through a lot recently. To my friends, you are always my friends and i love you too!”
Barber’s manager, Paul Doyle, expressed his condolences in an Instagram post. https://www.instagram.com/p/C2QRGnIP2f6/
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