GAY OLYMPIC SPEED SKATER’S NUDE PHOTO SHOOT

Gay New Zealand Olympic speed skater Blake Skjellerup is steaming up the cover of the latest issue of GT magazine in a sexy nude photo shoot.

Twenty-seven-year-old Skjellerup first opened up about his sexuality in an interview with Australian magazine DNA back in 2010.

He went on to join a campaign against homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools. 

In 2011, Skjellerup, along with gay Australian diver Matthew Mitcham, was named by the Federation of Gay Games as an ambassador to the 2014 Gay Games in Cleveland, Ohio.

Now he’s made an even bigger splash in the searing images by photographer James Demitri, accompanying a new interview with the British magazine.

In the article, Skjellerup revealed that he was himself bulled when he was a youngster.

“When I was in high school I was bullied for being gay. It left me feeling isolated and depressed. I felt like I had no one to turn to. I was lucky I had my sport to focus on, a lot of gay young people don’t have that,” he said.

Skjellerup also commented that the 2014 Winter Olympic Games may well be his last as he has struggled to find sponsors to back him.

He explained that his family have had to support him and “…at times it’s been quite difficult and I have to go without a lot of things”.

When asked if was concerned about taking part in next years’ Olypmic Games in Russia, which has become an increasingly homophobic nation, Skjellerup replied: “I don’t want to think because there are stories on the internet about me being gay is going to put me under any jeopardy…”

He added: “I hope I can bring some positive change in Russia to overcome their LGBT discrimination.”

Skjellerup first competed for New Zealand when he was twelve years old and has been the country’s Speed Skater of the Year and the New Zealand Junior Maori Sportsman of the Year.