Despite Rumors, Hunky Olympic Diver Says He's Not Gay

Though the British Olympic diver Tom Daley has been Tthe subject of gay rumors since being thrown into the media spotlight last year, the 19-year-old athlete told the British newspaper the Mirror that he is not gay.

"I think it's funny when people say I'm gay... I laugh it off... I'm not. But even if I was, I wouldn't be ashamed. It wouldn't bother me in the slightest what people thought," he said.

"But I'm cool with my gay following. It's great to have gay fans even though my friends gently take the mick," Daley added.

Daley, who has become a sex symbol over the past year, did not mention the recent controversy regarding the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and the country's highly controversial anti-gay law.

The diver won a bronze medal at the 2012 London Summer Olympics and was Britain's youngest competitor in the Games as well as the youngest competitor of any nationality outside the sport of swimming, and the youngest to participate in a final.

Attitude magazine named Daley the sexiest man in the world in July.

Watch Tom Daley and members of the British Olympic Swim team from 2012 perform "Sexy and I Know It":