Inspired By Tom Daley, Brazilian Diver Comes Out

Brazilian diver Ian Matos came out as gay Monday and said he was inspired by British Olympic diver Tom Daley's video, which went viral late last year, Gay Star News reports.

Ian Matos, a top level diver, told Brazilian newspaper Correio, that some of his friends urged him to make his announcement after the 2016 Summer Olympics, which will be held in Rio de Janiero. Matos, 24, decided to come out sooner after seeing Daley's video, however, where the diver says he is in a happy relationship with another man.

"From a young age, I knew I was gay, but it was here that I got to live my sexuality," he told the Correio.

In the interview, Matos says the thought of hiding boyfriends, not going to gay parties and not being himself would be too stressful. He added that he hopes coming out will help him become a better diver and not cost him any potential sponsorships.

Matos, who is originally from Pennsylvania, moved to Brazil so he could work on his diving career. Gay Star News reports the athlete won a bronze medal in a 2012 event in American and became Brazil's 3-meter board champion in 2013.

Matos did not comment on the upcoming Sochi Olympics and Russia's anti-gay law.

Daley made headlines last year when he posted a video declaring he was dating a man. Though he did not specifically say he was gay, or who he is dating (though it has been rumored he is seeing Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black), the video went viral, gaining millions of views.

"Come spring this year, my life changed massively when I met someone," Daley said in the clip. "And it made me feel so happy, so safe and everything just feels great. And, well, that someone is a guy," Daley says in the video. "It did take me by surprise a little bit. It was always in the back of my head that something like that could happen, but it wasn't until spring this year that something just clicked. It felt right."

"My whole world just changed, right there and then," he went on to say. "And, you know, of course I still fancy girls, but right now I'm dating a guy and I couldn't be happier. I just feel safe and it just really does feel right."

Watch Daley's video below: