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Swedish alpine skiing star Anja Paerson came out as a lesbian on Saturday when she announced that she and her long-time girlfriend Filippa are expecting a baby, according to AFP via News Australia.
“I am tired of being someone else and of playing a game. I owe it to myself and especially to Filippa to tell the truth,” Paerson said while hosting a program on Swedish public radio.
During the pre-recorded radio program, Paerson told listeners how she and Filippa met in 2005, and their friendship developed into more. “I had never intended to fall in love with a woman. Never thought that my heart could beat so fast for a woman. I was insanely in love,” she said.
After the World Cup in Schladming, Austria, earlier this year Paerson retired at 31-years old. Several interviewers asked her what she had planned for the future, to which she answered that she did not know. In wrapping up the radio program she admitted that she lied in those interviews.
“I have known for almost nine months what I will do in the future. I am going to be a mother,” she said.
The 1988 World Cup in Switzerland is where Paerson made her debut. She went on to win 19 championship medals, 42 World Cup victories, and two overall World Cup titles. She won six Olympic medals including a gold in slalom at the 2006 Turin Games, silver in giant slalom at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, and four bronze medals (slalom in 2002, downhill and combined in 2006, and super-combined in 2010).
