“It’s been a really long journey for me, embracing my gender,” pairs skater Timothy LeDuc said.
BEIJING — Adam Rippon delivered one of those quintessential Olympic moments four years ago in Pyeongchang, when his dazzling free skate helped to clinch the bronze medal for the U.S. in the team event to begin the figure skating program.
“It’s been a really long journey for me, embracing my gender,” LeDuc said. “I’ve had some amazing people in my life help me through that journey.Timothy LeDuc and Ashley Cain-Gribble won the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in January.“But I hope when people see my story, they aren’t saying, ‘Timothy is the first nonbinary person to achieve this level of success in sports.’ It’s that queer people can be open and be in sports. We’ve always been here, we have always been a part of sports.
Take, for instance, Brian Boitano, who won gold for the U.S. at the 1988 Calgary Games. His showdown with Canadian rival Brian Orser — the Battle of the Brians — is among the most memorable in the sport’s history. But it wasn’t until 2014 that Boitano came out as gay when he was selected as part of the U.S. delegation to the Sochi Games in Russia.Advertisement
“I’m not ashamed to be me,” Weir wrote of coming out in his autobiography. “More than anyone else I know, I love my life and accept myself. What’s wrong with being unique? I am proud of everything that I am and will become.”Indeed, the stigma that might once have attached itself to gay, lesbian or transgender athletes has waned as the public has grown in its knowledge and acceptance of them.
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