Gus KENWORTHY

AFP World Championships overall titles in 2011, 2012, and 2013 meant big things were expected of Gus Kenworthy at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. And he was certainly the centre of attention at the event, though perhaps not for all the reasons he may have previously expected.

On the snow, his silver medal was part of an historic American sweep of the men's freeski slopestyle podium.

But the British-born athlete's popularity surged at the Games for a different reason. On the eve of his competition final, he adopted a family of stray dogs that he found wandering the Russian city. The story went viral, and hearts melted around the world.

In October 2015, Kenworthy made headlines again when he came out as gay in a nationally-broadcasted interview. He was widely praised for being one of the first action-sports stars to come out, and became a figure of inspiration for many.

He returned to the Winter Olympics at PyeongChang 2018, but had to settle for a 12th place-finish after battling through injuries.