The out, Olympic freeskier has been making us so proud — both on and off the slopes!
The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China will be the last Olympic games for freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy. Kenworthy has been making history on and off the slopes, winning silver at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and then coming out publicly as a high-profile athlete at the top of his career in a 2015 cover story for ESPN Magazine.
In the past, Kenworthy competed for Team USA, but he opted to compete for his home country of Team Great Britain in 2019, and he will be fighting for gold in Beijing representing the Union Jack.
Kenworthy has given us plenty of great, often historic memories, and while there are far too many to list in one place, here are some of the more important milestones and moments he's had in his career that remind us why we'll always be fans of his!
Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images, Gus Kenworthy/Instagram, Richard Bord/Getty Images
When He Did a Double-Flip Off a Rail...on Video!
In 2011, Kenworthy performed the first-ever double-flip off a rail trick -- and he caught the entire thing on camera! The move was hailed by sports publications, since it had never been done/seen before, and was definitely the prelude of an illustrious and successful career in skiing!
Photo by Gus Kenworthy/YouTube
When He Won His First X Games Medal
Kenworthy took home his first X Games medal at Tignes in 2013, winning the bronze medal in the slopestyle competition.
Photo by Richard Bord/Getty Images
When He Won a Silver Medal at the Sochi Olympics in 2014
Kenworthy followed up his bronze medal performance at Tignes with Olympic silver at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia -- his first Olympic medal ever!
Photo by Shutterstock
When He Publicly Declared His Truth to the World
Rather than wait until the safety of retirement, Kenworthy decided to publicly come out as gay at the height of his career in a 2015 interview with ESPN Magazine.
"Part of the reason that I had such a difficult time as a kid was that I didn't know anyone in my position and didn't have someone to look up to, who's footsteps I could follow in," he said in a statement at the time. "I hope to be that person for a younger generation, to model honesty and transparency and to show people that there's nothing cooler than being yourself and embracing the things that make you unique."
Photo by ESPN
When He and Adam Rippon Made History at the Same Time
Kenworthy didn't medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, but he made history nonetheless when he and fellow out, Team USA Olympian, figure skater Adam Rippon, were out and proud (and not at all camera shy) repping LGBTQ+ athletes as the first two out gay American men to compete in the Winter Games.
Photo by Gus Kenworthy/Instagram
The Kiss Heard ‘Round the World
Before his qualifying run in Pyeongchang, Kenworthy shared an on-screen kiss with his then-boyfriend, actor Matthew Wilkas. The lip-lock was broadcast live and made headlines around the world, becoming one of the most memorable moments of the entire Pyeongchang Olympics, providing a moment of visibility for so many LGBTQ+ folks everywhere.
Photo by Gus Kenworthy/Instagram
When He Made the Transition to Hollywood Heartthrob
Kenworthy doesn't need to worry about a career after skiing. He's got a future in the bright lights of Hollywood, having appeared in projects like RuPaul's Drag Race, American Horror Story: 1984, Coming Out Colton, and Will & Grace so far in his on-screen career.
Photo by Gus Kenworthy/Instagram
When He Returned to His Roots With Team GB
Kenworthy competed for Team USA throughout most of his athletic career, but in 2019 he announced he would be spending the final years on Team Great Britain, the country of his birth, a move he says was a tribute to his mother.
"I thought I was going to be done after 2018 and basically took a year off from competing," he told British GQ about the move to Team GB. "When I was thinking about it again, I was like, you know what, I still think there's more in the tank. I still think I want to do this, but I want to approach it differently. If I did it for Great Britain, I could have this beautiful thing for my mother. She's been my number one fan, and she's stood by me this whole time, and I think that she would be really appreciative of it and excited about it. And it also will allow me to qualify and not be in this position where two months before the games, I'm scrambling to earn my spot against a bunch of the other best guys in the world. And I could bring more interest, hopefully to Britain for the sport that they're not really known for, and bring more funding to the British team. Hopefully, it creates a trickle-down effect where it just helps build the sport up in the UK."
Photo by Gus Kenworthy/Instagram
When He and His New Beau Made It Instagram Official at the X Games
Off the slopes, Kenworthy went Instagram official after kissing his boyfriend of two years, CAA executive Adam Umhoefer, at the 2022 X Games.
A source close to the couple told E! News that the pair "have been in a committed relationship for over two years," and are also living together quite happily. While the couple likes to "keep as much about their relationship as private as they can," the source also revealed that they "love and support one another endlessly."
Photo by Getty Images, Douglass Friedman/Instagram
His Final X Games and Winter Olympics
Competing in his final X Games and Winter Olympics must be a bittersweet experience for Kenworthy, but we're thankful for the memories and representation he's given to the sports and LGBTQ+ community over the years.
"I'm 30, which is young for life, but is very old for freeskiing," he tells British GQ. "Most of the guys I'm competing with are not guys that I competed with for most of my career. I've seen people who came into the sport five or six years after me, who have already gone through their career and stopped competing. Pretty much every name on the start list is one that I hadn't even heard of three years ago or two years ago. The prime age for the sport, I would say, is 17 to 22."
"I feel like I've definitely taken a step back from it, and I have other things in my life," he continued about his passion for the sport. "When I was younger, I kind of didn't. Skiing really was my thing, and that was how I defined myself. In the past couple of years, I'm like, 'Oh, my God, what's going to happen after skiing? How do I even introduce myself to people?' But I've started to realize that it doesn't matter. I'm so appreciative of the sport because it's really given me this life. But I also realized that there is just so much more to life than skiing and sports, and winning or losing."
Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images
