"I'm not really that famous," Mitcham tells Aussie mag SX, in his first major interview since Beijing. "I'm just not anonymous anymore, that's all."

"I do get recognised a bit. Especially when I go shopping at Bondi Junction. It's nice and humbling, but it still takes me by surprise. Someone will walk past and do a double take, then come back, shake my hand and say, 'Congratulations'. And for a split second, I'll think, 'Have they got the right guy? Who have they mistaken me for?'"

Mitcham also talks about his boyfriend Lachlan Fletcher, and how he is taking the extra attention.

"He's still shy," Mitcham chuckles. "He hasn't done any media, really. He's just taking it in his stride as well, with me doing my training, and having to go away to all these functions and events. He's just helping me along, which I'm extremely grateful for."

SX asks Mitcham about the controversy surrounding NBC's coverage - or lack thereof - of Mitcham's personal history after his win.

While NBC ran stories about the background of most of the other winners in Beijing, the network was suspiciously quiet about Mitcham's undeniable interesting story.

After the games, Gary Zenkel, President of NBC's Olympic coverage, issued a statement saying: "We regret that we missed the opportunity to tell Matthew Mitcham's story. We apologise for this unintentional omission."

"I was busy with the Olympics at the time, so I was pretty much oblivious to it," Mitcham says about the controversy. "I did get sent links about it, so I found out about it, but in all honesty it wasn't really my fight, and I wasn't offended. It was other people that were making complaints and who were really into it.

"I don't know whether or not NBC did it on purpose – I don't really care. I'm pretty thick-skinned."

Last update: 11-13-2008 19:56