The 23-year-old, who was originally born in New Zealand, studies at Texas A&M, which has been constantly ranked as one of the most homophobic universities in America by the Princeton Review.

Fonua, who was knocked out in the heats of the 100 metres breaststroke at London 2012, made his announcement in his campus newspaper, The Battallion.

Fonua, a telecommunications and media studies major, said problems arose when people had to hide their true identity.

He had received an honour ring known as an Aggie.

"An Aggie does not lie, cheat or steal," Fonua said.

"And if you're living in the closet, you're living a lie."

Amini Fonua carried Tonga's flag at the Opening Ceremony of London 2012

From his personal experiences, he has felt the need to defend the school against accusations of homophobia.

Fonua's openness follows the announcement last month by NBA player Jason Collins that he was gay, the first active athlete in the history of the four major American professional sports to come out.

"Everyone knows that your success as a swimmer isn't correlated to your sexuality or your sexual orientation," Fonua told the newspaper.

"Whether you swim a fast time or whether you make the right amount of hoops or have a high batting percentage, nothing else matters.

"I think the reason people are so fascinated with it in sports is because there is this very hyper-masculine idea attached to being an athlete, especially a professional athlete.

"But at the end of the day, that's what they are - they're professional athletes."

Last October Puerto Rican featherweight Orlando Cruz, who competed at Sydney 2000, became the first active boxer to reveal he is gay; followed by Britain's Nicola Adams - a fellow boxer and winner of the first ever women's Olympic gold medal in the sport - who is openly bisexual; and Australian Olympic diving champion Matthew Mitcham is another of the few openly gay Olympic athletes in the world.

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