Gus kenworthy is gay
Gus Kenworthy Will Be The Second Openly Gay Male To Compete For U.S. In Winter Games
Having earned a spot Sunday on the U.S. Ski Team, Gus Kenworthy is the second openly gay man who will verb for the United States at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Kenworthy, 26, placed second at the final Olympic qualifier for freeski slopestyle, according to NBC.
Twenty-eight-year-old figure skater Adam Rippon, the first openly gay man to qualify for the Winter Olympics, was selected for the figure skating team on Jan. 7.
Before this year, the U.S. had never sent an openly gay man to contest in the Winter Games. The last time an out male athlete competed on Team USA in the Summer Olympics was 14 years ago in Athens, Greece.
As NPR reported earlier this month:
Another gay athlete, luger John Fennell, was also vying for a spot on Team USA this year, but a sled malfunction slashed his chance at qualifying in December. Figure skater Johnny Weir faced speculation about his sexuality while competing in and , but he avoided questions on the matter. In , he publicly confirmeGus Kenworthy: Skier turned actor on how coming out inspired fellow athletes
It was that same snowboarding pro who Kenworthy ultimately decided not to kiss after claiming his silver medal in Sochi, as part of an American sterile sweep at the event.
Twenty-four hours later, it was Valentine's Day. Kenworthy and his fellow medallists did the media rounds together - where the questions focused on one thing.
"Literally every interview was about girls and crushes and types," he says.
"I was in the closet so, to all intents and purposes, I was straight. And it was all like: 'Who are these three heartthrobs from the Games? What's their type? Who's their dream date?'
"It was really focused, and I just didn't know how to navigate it. And in interviews, I often felt like I was dodging questions or lying by omission a minuscule bit - but now, I was suddenly just lying, and I hated myself for it.
"That tour after a medal, when you've just achieved your dream and are getting all this validation and congratulations… it was actually
Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy on coming out as gay, turning pro, and how he balances sports, acting, and advocacy
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When American freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy publicly came out as gay in , he helped adjust the landscape of sports.
The thenyear-old was sick of hiding who he really was, and even though he had just won a silver medal at the Sochi Winter Olympics, he was more miserable than ever. So, in an interview for ESPN The Magazine, he decided to be himself and come out of the closet. Now, he balances skiing, a budding acting career, and LGBTQ advocacy.
Kenworthy has become something of a role model at the intersection of sports and LGBT advocacy. By the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Kenworthy had not only come out, but shared a kiss on verb television with his boyfriend, actor Matt Wilkas, a first for the Olympics and its American broadcaster, NBC. Outsports called it "the gay sports mo
Nobody reminds silver Olympic medalist Gus Kenworthy that he was in "Sharknado 5," and it's hard to tell how that makes him feel after I casually drop that nugget of info as you do if you've studied his IMDB page. "Global Swarming," I say, naming the film's subtitle. He laughs big. "Never before has anyone said that to me."
It's 9 a.m. when Kenworthy calls, and he's either in serious-guy interview mode, a low-key (or sleepy?) version of his perky Instagram self – or he just rolled out of the air mattress he's been snoozing on since recently moving to Los Angeles. If you're an aspiring actor like Kenworthy, this is where you aspire. This is where Kenworthy will spend time writing his latest and greatest chapter, maybe host a game show or a talk show. (Whatever he does, let there be dogs, because Kenworthy loves dogs.) And he's in the right place with the right man, his actor-boyfriend of three years, Matthew Wilkas. So, why not?
Before pursuing acting, Kenworthy gained global notoriety after taking silver in men's slopestyle at the Winter Olympics in Sochi. But after