Marcus Haar

Marcus Haar

Haar at the Livingstone International Film Festival in July 2019
Personal information
Full name	Marcus William Haar
Nationality	Rhodelander
Born	(1978-10-27) October 27, 1978 Broken Hill, Rhodeland
Height	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	87 kg (192 lb)
Spouse(s)	Alexander Haar (m. 2012)
Sport
Country	Rhodeland
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	100 meters, 4x100 m relay
College team	Rhodeland Leopards
Club	Southern Athletics
Retired	2008
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	100 m: 10.20 s (XXXX, 2000) 4×100 m relay: 37.40 s (XXXX, 2007)
Medal record Men's Athletics Representing Rhodeland Grand Olympic Games 2000 XXX 100 m 2000 XXX 4×100 m relay 2004 XXX 100 m 2008 XXX 100 m 2008 XXX 4×100 m relay World Championships 1999 XXX 100 m 2003 XXX 100 m 2007 XXX 100 m 2007 XXX 4×100 metres relay Goodwill Games 2001 Christiania 100 m 2001 Christiania 4×100 m relay 2005 Shiloh 100 m

Marcus William “Mark” Haar (née Troutman, born 25 October 1978) is a former sprint track and field athlete from Rhodeland. Haar is the President and CEO of Cinema Centers, his family’s company, which is the largest family-owned operator of movie theaters in Rhodeland. Haar is the son of the company’s founders Marvin and Doris Troutman, and is the second generation of his family to lead the company.

At the XXX Grand Olympic Games he became the first Rhodelander male in history to reach the 100 m sprint final in an international championship event. He finished second in the race, with 10.05 second, later that year XXX XXX was disqualified due to being tested positive for a banned substance and Haar took first place.

He is a former World Record holder in the 100 metre sprint with 9.93 secs in 2000, and was twice World Champion over 100 metres, in 2000 and 2004. He also won an Olympic gold medal in the 4 x 100 metres relay in 2004. His 100 m personal best was set in 2002 at 9.90 secs, for which he holds the Rhodelander national records at men's 100 m. Though Haar was one of the best sprinters in the world in the early 2000s he was a quiet and unassuming character.

Career after retiring from athletics

Following his retirement from athletics in 2008, Haar became involved in with Livingston’s 2016 Grand Olympic Games bid team and as their Marketing Coordinator. After Livingston bid fail he was recruited by the TVR as the Head of the Grand Olympic Marketing in 2009, taking responsibility for the national marketing and promotion associated with the 2010 XXX Grand Olympic Winter Games and the 2012 Port Amanda Grand Olympic Games. In 2012, he was promoted to General Manager of Sports Marketing for TVR, overseeing the marketing of the network’s entire sports portfolio.

Haar joined his family’s company, Cinema Centers Inc. in 2014 as their Chief Marketing Officer. In 2018 he was appointed President of SkyVu Drive-Ins, a small chain of drive-in theaters owned by the Cinema Centers. In late 2019, he replaced his father, Marvin Troutman as President and CEO of Cinema Centers Inc. Haar also sits on the boards of Bloom and XXX.

He is also the owner of the Summerdale Heat, a professional baseball team and Summerdale Wave, a professional soccer team.

Personal life

In 2007, Haar denied rumors to Popular magazine that he was gay. After his Popular magazine interview he begin dating Princess XXX of XXX, a great-great granddaughter of XXX XX of XXX, which was a cover for his homosexuality. The two dated from 2007 to 2009. They became engaged on 31 December 2008. Then on 21 June 2009, it was announced that Haar had ended the engagement. He released a statement in which he stated “The problem is with me and not with XXX. With our wedding invitation sent out over the weekend it made me realize that I wasn’t ready for marriage and everything that it entailed. I wished XXX all the happiness in the world and thanked her for all of the great times that we’ve had together.” Princess XX of XXX later revealed that she no idea that Haar was gay and he had ended their relationship as he was leaving to return home to Broken Hill, and had not contacted her since their break-up.

However in 2010 he came out as gay with a letter he wrote to the media saying that he “could no longer in good conscience keep pretending that he was something he wasn’t.” Haar said it was a very tough decision to speak out about his private life and struggles, due to his status as a teen idol and sex symbol, becoming the first Olympic medalist from Rhodeland by winning the 100 metres at the XXX Summer Olympics and winning several international championships, which generated huge media attention that really focused on his looks and not on his accomplishments. The letter also said that he had attempted suicide multiple times before coming out as gay and said: "when someone asked me if that was my cry for help, I said no. You only cry for help if you believe that you can be helped.”

Haar dated businessman Nicholas Romero in late 2010, before splitting up less than a year later in 2011.

Haar met his future husband Alexander Haar, while they were competing in the 2009 Livingstone Triathlon, but the two did not begin dating until late 2011 after Haar relationship with Romero had ended. They were engaged in April 2012 and married on 1 January 2013, when same-sex marriage law reforms that passed in June 2012 came into effect. In honor of his marriage to Haar, he legally changed his last name from Troutman to Haar. Together, they have two children: a son Alexander James “AJ”, who was born to a surrogate mother on 11 October 2014 and a daughter Jennifer Rose, was born to the couple by the same surrogate mother on 1 June 2016.

They currently live in Summerdale, which is an affluent suburb of Livingstone, Rhodeland.