Covering the World Athletics Championships and coming out as gay in later life – Jon Mulkeen Q&A
Jon Mulkeen has been working in track and field media for nearly 20 years, and is among the LGBTQ editors and journalists out at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo; here, he discusses his role and what makes the sport he loves so inclusive, and shares some of his personal journey too…
If you’re trying to keep track of what’s going on at the World Athletics Championships, chances are you’re making good use of the official website.
Tokyo’s master of ceremonies, as far as editorial content is concerned, is Jon Mulkeen, who has been a web editor with World Athletics for nearly 13 years, the last nine of them as senior editor.
Before that, he was with Athletics Weekly, and can draw upon two decades of experience providing news, stats and information to fans of the sport across the globe.
With the biennial meeting of the world’s greatest athletes taking place in the Japanese capital, we thought it was the perfect time to catch up with Jon and learn more about his journey.
Based in the West Midlands, he connected more closely with Sports Media LGBT+ a couple of years ago, via Instagram.
Later, after an exchange of messages, he joined our network group chat, a community which now consists of nearly 100 people. If you’re in our industry or working in a related role, and you’re LGBTQ, we’d love for you to reach out, just like Jon did.
He has a more unusual story, in that he’s a father of three who came out as gay in his late 30s.
With there being more out LGBTQ athletes competing at these World Athletics Championships than ever before, we invited Jon for a chat – to get to know him better, and help show there’s representation on the media tribune in the Japan National Stadium too.
He graciously agreed, so let’s get to the start line…
Hi Jon! Thanks for joining us for this Q&A. Tell us about your day-to-day role with World Athletics, and the tasks you’re doing in Tokyo?
Jon: Thanks for having me! Generally, I manage World Athletics’ online content, particularly anything on the website, such as features, reports, previews, press releases, and athlete announcements. Around half of that content is produced in-house, with the rest produced by freelance correspondents that we work with.
The difference in Tokyo is that everything gets ramped up! There’s way more content – we have reports of every single discipline, plus daily previews and wraps. We have a team of dedicated reporters and freelancers that we work with for that. My fellow editor, Jess, and I will be doing the bulk of the publishing, editing and commissioning.
You’ve worked in athletics media for about 20 years. In that time, how inclusive have you found your part of the industry to be, as well as the sport itself, particularly for LGBTQ people?
I’ve always found athletics to be a pretty inclusive sport. In hindsight, it’s a topic I wish I’d have written my dissertation about, because I find there are a lot of parallels between athletics and the LGBTQ community.
Athletics is a sport for everyone. There are so many different disciplines, with all sorts of people, body shapes, nationalities and backgrounds represented within this one sport.
I think that’s a reason why it will always have that appeal for LGBTQ people, or even just people who are looking for belonging.
Maybe it’s a generalisation, but a lot of LGBTQ people face difficulty when it comes to school sports, especially team sports. They struggle to feel as though they fit in to, say, football-dominated spaces or, other team sports that have a strong “macho” or tribal slant.
However, athletics is an individual sport and you essentially just represent yourself – that’s something a lot of LGBTQ people naturally align with.
Yes, there are people in our community who thrive in football or other team sports as well, but generally speaking, I think that seems to be the case. It’s been my experience as well, and there’s a decent LGBTQ fanbase within athletics, which has been lovely to see over the years and to be a part of.
That’s also reflected in athletics media – I know of several colleagues who are also LGBTQ. I feel like the industry is inclusive too, so I’m fortunate in that regard.
What have been your career highlights to date?
I know it’s a real cliche for a British person working in sports media to say, but I have to mention the London 2012 Olympics!
Just the way the whole country was transformed during those Games – the vibe and the buzz about the place was just incredible. It had a true feeling of what the Olympic Games should be, which I think was missing a bit at Rio 2016, and then Tokyo as well, for obvious reasons.
The Berlin 2009 World Championships was also a highlight. That was the first Worlds I worked at and attended. I was fortunate enough to report on Bolt’s 200m world record and other legendary performances from those championships.
My job has taken me all over the world, and that’s something I never take for granted. I still have that ‘pinch-me’ moment any time I arrive at a championships, because at heart I’m still a massive fanboy of the sport. If I were to ever lose that, then that would be the day that I retire!
@worldathletics On this day 15 years ago, 🇯🇲’s @usainboltjamaica stormed to the 200m world record in Berlin 👀 19.19 ⏱️ #fyp #sports #sprint #athletics #jamaica #worldrecord #worldathleticschamps ♬ original sound – WorldAthletics
We welcomed you into our Sports Media LGBT+ network about a year ago. What can you share from your coming out story?
I had a pretty devout Catholic upbringing, which essentially forced me deep into the closet.
There were repressed feelings and attractions, but more than anything, it was just confusion due to everything that I was being taught and how a lot of those views were reflected in society at the time.
That confusion lasted throughout my teens and early 20s. I assumed I was bisexual, so I tried to live more on the hetero side of the bisexual spectrum, because it felt like the easiest thing to do.
I got married to a woman, settled down, and had kids. Our marriage ran its course; it had nothing to do with sexuality, it simply came to a natural end. It was only afterwards – having peeled back all those layers of confusion and guilt – that I finally had the courage and the opportunity to explore everything that I’d repressed for so long.
I didn’t have as much of the fear that I’d had much earlier in my life. But it takes a long time for the effects of that Catholic guilt to wear off. Eventually, in my late 30s, I reached that point.
So I started to explore the things that I’d been denying myself. Thankfully, all my friends and family were very supportive and understanding. That was also reflected in my working world.
That’s so encouraging to hear – thank you for sharing with us. You mentioned you have kids… would you have advice for other dads who are going through their own coming out journeys, later in life?
It’s difficult because everyone’s journey is unique, with different challenges. What I’d say is that the scenarios we create in our minds when we’re faced with the early stages of coming out are almost always worse than the reality.
We naturally assume people will react in the worst possible way, when really the vast majority will be understanding. And if anyone isn’t understanding, usually that’s a sign there’s a problem with them, not with you.
Timing is key, because no one should feel forced into coming out. Unfortunately, sometimes people are outed by others, but if you’re in a position to do it entirely on your own terms, then make sure it’s exactly that, and you’re doing it as and when you’re ready to do so, bit by bit.
It doesn’t have to be some massive announcement. I first came out to just one or two close friends, then one or two more close friends, then my sisters, then a few colleagues, then my parents, then finally my kids and my ex. And that approach helped, because each time I came out to someone, the conversation became a bit easier for the next time, so you can build up momentum.
And for other dads out there, kids are the least judgmental of pretty much everyone, especially kids growing up today. Society is still not perfect, but compared to what it was like when most of the dads our age were young, things have definitely improved.
That’s great advice. Finally, you have a hidden talent as a singer and a performer! What’s the story there?
Well, it kind of went hand in hand with my coming out!
When I was younger, I had an interest in musical theatre, but I was very much aware of how that could be perceived, and I was just so fearful about what people might think if they knew that I was into musical theatre.
So I denied myself that opportunity throughout my youth. It’s only in recent years, after coming out, that I’ve reached the point in my life where I just stopped caring about what other people thought.
A local theatre group had auditions for a show. Although I had no experience or training, I went along anyway and – in all my naivety – auditioned for the lead role. I got down to the final two, but then just missed out by a narrow margin.
Initially I was a bit gutted about it! But then after a couple of days, I thought, actually, off the back of nothing, to get that far… it gave me motivation to take forward. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before I landed a part in another show.
I’ve still only done two or three, but it’s a nice distraction from day-to-day life.
Thanks so much to Jon for taking part in our latest Q&A – you can find more of these chats in our ‘My Stories in Sport’ archive.
If you’re also LGBTQ+ with a sports media role, get in touch with us (in confidence) to start a conversation and learn more about our industry network and wider community.
Further reading…
Gay athlete Seamus Derbyshire serves ‘Wicked’ Ariana Grande ‘toss toss’ at the World Championships (Outsports)
Meet 13 out LGBTQ athletes competing at 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo (Outsports)
Gay sports ‘icon’ Yulimar Rojas set to return at World Championships, two years after last competition (Outsports)
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