Gus Kenworthy, Olympic Freeskier, Comes out as Gay

By Mike Chiari, Featured Columnist 

Oct 22, 2015

Andy Wong/Associated Press 

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Gus Kenworthy is one of the best freestyle skiers in the world, and he is now one of the most prominent openly gay athletes as well.

The 24-year-old 2014 Olympic silver medalist officially came out Thursday by posting a tweet with this photo of an upcoming ESPN The Magazine cover:

Kenworthy—who was born in England but has long lived in Colorado and represents the United States in international competition—has wrestled with the decision to come out for much of his life.

According to Alyssa Roenigk of ESPN The Magazine, he has known he was gay since he was five years old. He contemplated suicide at times rather than coming out.

Per Roenigk, Kenworthy decided to come out only after reaching the world No. 1 ranking in freestyle skiing on the heels of taking silver at the 2014 Sochi Games.

"I never got to be proud of what I did 
in Sochi because I felt so horrible about what I didn't do," Kenworthy said. "I didn't want to come out as the silver medalist from Sochi. I wanted to come out as the bestfreeskier in the world."

In addition, he laid out his goals moving forward after taking one of the biggest steps of his life, according to Roenigk.

"I want to be the guy who comes out, wins s--t and is like, 'I'm taking names.'"

There has been an outpouring of support for Kenworthy since he came out, especially from those within the skiing community.

That includes fellow freeskier Tom Wallisch:

Women's freestyle skier Grete Eliassen offered her thoughts as well:

Former St. Louis Rams defensive end Michael Sam may still stand as the biggest name in sports to come out as openly gay, but Kenworthymay have changed the game since he is the best his sport has to offer.

Kenworthy will be front and center at the next Winter Olympics in 2018 as well as upcoming X Games events, so his announcement certainly has a chance to be among the most influential yet.