U.S. Olympic freeskier Gus Kenworthy came out as gay in this month’s edition of ESPN The Magazine.
“I am gay. Wow, it feels good to write those words,” he shared in a Facebook post. “For most of my life, I’ve been afraid to embrace that truth about myself. Recently though, I’ve gotten to the point where the pain of holding onto the lie is greater than the fear of letting go, and I’m very proud to finally be letting my guard down.”
Kenworthy won silver at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi in men’s freestyle skiing, but struggled throughout the games due to Russia’s harsh anti-LGBT agenda.
“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 best freeskier in the world.”
