London (AFP)
Former team captain Gareth Thomas of Wales and British and Irish Lions revealed on Saturday that he has the AIDS virus.
"When I discovered that I should live with the HIV virus, my first thought was to tell me I was going to die," said Thomas, 45, in a documentary airing Wednesday.
"I do not blame people for not being aware of the situation, the problem is that in the scenarios accepted in the 1980s, people did not talk about it because they did not have other "than to know that one has AIDS," added the man to the 100 international selections.
Gareth Thomas, who has played in four World Cups, is the first British sportsman to reveal his HIV status. He had revealed his homosexuality in 2009.
He pointed out that the disease had little impact on his daily life apart from the fact that he has to take a tablet of medicine every day and has to go for a blood test at a hospital every six months.
Gareth Thomas started his international career with Wales in 1995.
© 2019 AFP