Openly Gay World Champion Athlete Shawn Barber Dies at 29

In a tragic loss, gay Canadian world champion pole vaulter Shawn Barber died at age 29 at his home in Texas after a period of ill health.

Barber won "the pole vault world championship in 2015," People Magazine recalled. "The win earned Canada its first-ever world pole vault medal and was the country's first athletics world title in 12 years, according to CTV News."

Barber also "became a 2015 Pan American Games Gold Medalist and was a finalist at the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro," People Mag noted. "Barber's best vault was six meters, which he obtained on Jan. 15, 2016, in Reno, Nevada, and remains the Canadian record, per the Associated Press."

Barber was a dual citizen of the U.S, and Canada, but chose to compete for Canada as his father, George Barber, had done before him.

The outstanding athlete made headlines when he came out in 2017 with a Facebook post in which he declared, "Gay and proud!"

In his post, Barber added: "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!"

LGBTQ+ athletics site OutSports, reporting on Barber's death, recalled that although his announcement made him "one of the highest-profile and most successful current openly gay athletes anywhere in the world" (as the site reported when Barber came out), he "chose the subdued approach to being out, talking rarely about it and instead focusing on his competition" after his public embrace of authenticity.