Openly Gay Team USA Skater Adam Rippon Brings Home a Bronze Medal
Today, one of our favorite gay Olympians, Adam Rippon skated for Team USA during the team figure skating event. While Canada ended up taking home the gold, and Russia the silver, it was Team USA who came in third, earning a bronze medal. The Adam Rippon bronze was won for his men’s free skate routine.
The entire roster for Team USA is:
Each of those performers get to bring home the bronze medal.
RELATED | The Cartoon Currently Taking Ice Skating by Storm Is Really, Really Gay
Was the Adam Rippon bronze deserved, or was he robbed?
Though we were rooting for him, Rippon scored relatively poorly. Despite having a clean routine, two skaters who fell, Russia’s Mikhail Kolyada and Canada’s Patrick Chan, scored higher than he did. According to Maggie Hendricks at USA Today, however, this was due to the other skaters performing more technically impressive routines. As Hendricks writes:
If a skater falls on a quad[ruple jump], technical judges take a close look. Did he land it before he fell? They also look closely at what a skater’s foot is doing on landings to make sure it is fully rotated when it lands. The reason quads are such a big deal is because they take so much time to perfect.
RELATED | In a Personal Message to Adam Rippon, Mike Pence Blames ‘Fake News’ for His Anti-LGBT Reputation
Still, a perfect routine is hard to pull off, which is one reason why he’s still deserving of the bronze. And besides, he recently told NBC when he’s on the ice, “I want to throw up. I want to go over to the judges and say, can I just have a Xanax and a quick drink?”
Featured image by Jamie Squire/Getty Images
