Gareth Thomas is the highest-profile British sports star to ever speak publicly about his homosexuality and a look through the history of gay athletes only enhances the enormity of his announcement. With 100 Welsh caps and the captaincy of both his country and the Lions to his name, Thomas’ standing in the game dwarves that of any other previous ‘out’ British athletes.

John Amaechi, the Stockport-born basketball player who made a name for himself with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA, came out in 2007 but the story made more of splash Stateside than it did over here. While closer to home, the Welsh international rugby referee Nigel Owens, like Thomas, admitted contemplating suicide when he came out in May 2007. Earlier this year the Irish hurler Donal Óg Cusack shocked the country when he came out and, looking further into the past, Britain’s Olympic champion figure skater, John Curry, was outed by a German newspaper in 1976 but his story was largely ignored by the wider world.

Aside from, his stature within sport, what makes Thomas’ story stand out is the timing of his announcement while still active in the game. The only precedent for that in this country is the tragic story of Justin Fashanu. Although, by the time the striker came out to The Sun in October 1990 his football career was in freefall and the final years of his career were spent at Adelaide City, Miramar Ranger and Atlanta Ruckus.

Fashanu committed suicide in May 1998 but the world has changed in the intervening decade, it is just that the pace of change in the world of sport has been considerably slower. And luckily for Thomas things have moved on considerably since the 1930s when 1936 French Open champion Gottfried von Cramm was tried and imprisoned for his homosexuality, but his fate pales in comparison to that of his compatriot middle-distance runner, Otto Peltzer.

Peltzer, who broke Paavo Nurmi’s 1500m world record, was released from prison in 1936 after being charged with homosexual offences. With his release being conditional on him giving up competing or coaching he ended up sleeping rough in Finland before the Nazi authorities rearrested him on his return to Germany in 1941. Peltzer would spend the next four years interred in the Mauthausen Concentration Camp before the Allies liberated it in May 1945.

A story of perhaps more relevance to Thomas, and one with a happier ending, is that of Australian rugby league player Ian Roberts. He came out to global surprise in 1995 and five years later was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia's international standing in rugby league.