Iceland's Hot Gay Paralympics Swimmer Makes Waves, and Music Too

Out swimmer Már Gunnarsson isn't just representing at this year's Paralympics in Paris; he's also a talented musician and songwriter who ranked high in the 2022 Eurovision song contest.

"The 24-year-old from Iceland will swim in the 100-meter backstroke S11 event, hoping to improve on his fifth-place finish in Tokyo," LGBTQ+ athletics site Outsports reported.

"He's already made his mark in swimming, as a world-record holder," OutSports added. "A few months before the last Paralympics, he set a best time for the 200-meter backstroke in the S11 classification, which is for swimmers with very low or no vision."

The article noted that Gunnarsson "was born with a genetic sight disorder called Leber Congenital Amaurosis (LCA)."

Website ilovemanchester.com noted that the Icelander, who is studying in Manchester, England, at the Royal Northern College of Music, trained for the Paralympics "in the Olympic-sized swimming pool across the road" from the conservoire.

"In 2022, he entered Iceland's hunt for a Eurovision song and made it into the final with his sister Ísold Wilberg," the site added, "eventually coming third."

"He even got the idea for their song, 'Don't You Know?' while he was in the pool," ilovemanchester.com went on to say.

"At the time, I was going through some typical and annoying dating drama," the out world record holder told the site, "and I was feeling kind of down."

Then he got into the water, where, he said, "the melody and lyrics to the chorus of the song came to me."

"Már's formal music training began at the age of six when he and his family moved to Luxembourg," the site said. "He trained with classical Russian pianist Dina Ziatdinova and Már discovered a passion for swimming when the family moved back to Iceland six years later."

"Since then, he has competed in swimming competitions worldwide, including in Mexico City, London, Tokyo, the USA, and extensively in Europe."

But for fans keeping up with the multi-day sporting event, Gunnarsson's showing in the pool will only be one of his performances to enjoy; he's also penned a new song, "Spirit in Motion," to commemorate this summer's Paralympics.

"My hope is that it will resonate with athletes all around the world," the athlete told OutSports.

Gunnarsson showed he is perfectly well aware of his privileged status as someone from a nation where it's safe to be openly queer. After he came out following the 2020 games in Tokyo, "The news went viral," he told the sports news site, "and the amount of support I felt from the Icelandic nation was amazing."

"I think it reflected how unique we are as a country," Gunnarsson said.

Saying that Iceland is "one of the best for people to live in if they want equal opportunity," he went on to add that "last week I was at the Reykjavik Pride festival and nearly 100,000 people came together to celebrate – that's about a quarter of our total population."

"I just wish that more countries had the same attitude," Gunnarsson said.

The athlete took to Instagram on Aug. 29 to flash back to the 2020 interview in which he came out to the world.

"Three years ago, while I was competing in Tokyo, I casually mentioned in a television interview that I am gay," Gunnarsson posted. "This immediately became breaking news and changed my life."

"The reaction from the Icelandic nation was incredible, with so many beautiful comments on social media and private messages from people showing me support," his post continued. "Of course, a few nasty comments came along; however, this interview taught me that I can be confident in who I am and that I will never play a hiding game to suit someone else."

"As my mother always says 'homophobic people are usually a collection of unattractive straight individuals who no one wants to share a bed with,'" Gunnarsson zinged.

The champion swimmer added an invitation to "Catch me competing this Sunday morning at 10:15 local time in Paris."

The games, which started Aug. 28 and will continue through Sept. 8, will boast close to 30 out queer athletes. The Summer Olympics, which recently also took place in Paris, included 175 out athletes, among them British diver Tom Daley, who took home a silver medal after having won the gold four years ago in Tokyo.

Check out some of Gunnarsson's world-class Instagram pics.