Olympian Gus Kenworthy Comes Out

Olympic freeskier and X Games star Gus Kenworthy became the first openly gay action sports athlete when he came out of the closet in a new interview with ESPN magazine this week. 

With a slew of athletes from a variety of sports coming out over the last year or two, Kenworthy is the first of his field to come out as openly gay. In addition to winning 3 AFP World Championship titles, Kenworthy won the silver medal at the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Given the culture of his sport, Kenworthy says the decision to come out was not an easy one. Per ESPN:

“They say it’s a community of individuals and everyone is doing their own thing and it’s not a team sport, so you get to be yourself,” Kenworthy says. “But you don’t, really.” Unlike team sports, athletes never leave the locker room. 
They turn pro as children and become immediately indoctrinated by the culture. “Between the contests and the shoots, everyone’s always skiing and training together,” Kenworthy says. “But it is the same, it’s totally like that: Be creative, be yourself, be all this stuff, but also literally just be everybody else.”

Kenworthy, despite professionally being in the closet, says he knew he was gay from about age 5. Now he’s determined to serve as a role model for other gay athletes and continue his stellar career. “I want to be the guy who comes out, wins s— and is like, I’m taking names,” he says.