Adam Rippon discusses his journey to becoming a world-renowned skater, making history as the first openly gay US athlete to medal in the Winter Olympics, and his efforts to advocate for LGBT rights in the US and around the world.
On how his coaches helped drive his success: “I felt like they were the most honest with me and the most upfront with how far felt I needed to go and if I needed to do more. And so, I feel like it really helped me in my work ethic and it’s helped me in my post-athletic career.”
On coming out as gay: “It felt bigger than me and I felt like if this one really fun fact about me is something that’s going to make or break my chances of going to the Olympics, then so be it. That’s not fair. It’s not right. But am I really going to just not say anything?... I felt so much more confident and so much more power reading about other people who shared their own coming out experiences. I felt way more comfortable in my own skin when I could see different YouTube videos of people sharing their experience. And I think when we see a little bit of ourselves somewhere, which is why representation is so important, you just feel like anything could be possible.”
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