Raymond Braun – "Triathlon was part of my OCD recovery"

Meet the man that took on seven Olympic tris on seven continents in seven days to help with his OCD...

I didn't really have a relationship with sport growing up. As a kid, I didn't have great hand-eye coordination, was kind of lanky and awkward. I got teased for being gay before I even knew I was gay myself. The first time I really stepped foot in a gym was in my mid-20s.

I got involved in triathlon as part of something called exposure therapy, which was part of my OCD recovery programme. For me, the OCD was related to pandemics, germs, contamination, freak accidents and mortality. I've had it since I was a kid and it had a big impact on my life. When the pandemic hit, it was like all my worst fears coming true, because things that I'd been doing and was being told weren't rational were all of a sudden being normalised.