Adam Rippon exclusive: On five years since his Olympic coming out - and the power of sport for LGBTQ+ people: 'Skating saved me'

Adam Rippon can still remember the blinding glare of the Olympic spotlight, something he had long dreamt about but suddenly was staring directly at, thrust into the international news cycle as one of just a handful of out queer athletes at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.

It was brighter than he expected.

“For the first time in my life I became really open to a lot of criticism that I never had received before,” the American told Olympics.com recently in an exclusive interview. “I had these people who were criticising me [that] didn't know me at all, but I was confident in who I was as a person so it didn’t matter.”

“I had come out publicly a few years before to a smaller audience [in figure skating], but it was to an audience that I felt comfortable with, one that had known me since I had been young and they knew who I was as a person,” he explained. “I was embraced by that audience, which helped me feel good in my own skin come 2018.”

It’s been five years since Rippon and fellow skaters Eric Radford (Canada) and Jorik Hendrickx (Belgium) made history for their sport, becoming the first publicly out Olympic figure skaters in history.

Rippon, who retired from competitive figure skating in 2019, is one example of the exponential growth of LGBTQ+ athletes across many sports disciplines sharing their stories at the Olympics: In the Summer Games at London 2012, only 23 athletes were publicly out. That number had risen to 186 at Tokyo 2020 in 2021.

As Rippon reflects on five years since his Winter Olympic debut, he is certain of one thing this 2023 Pride Month: Sharing queer stories like his is important – as is listening to those that have come before him, too.

“Pride to me is a time to learn more about queer history and the stories of people who came before us,” he said. “But it's also a time for me to celebrate all of the amazing out and queer people in my life and to celebrate their stories – and what comes next for them.”

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Adam Rippon: On being out and successful

“It was a huge deal.”

Rippon knows now more than ever that using his Olympic platform to tell his personal story was not only brave, it was what he had been working towards as an athlete and person – even if challenges came along with being out on such a stage.

“I didn't realise the gravity of it until I was at the Olympics,” said Rippon, who finished 10^th in the individual event and helped the U.S. to a figure skating team bronze.

“I was in the best shape of my life. I wanted to show that you can be out, you can be queer, you can be successful, you can be all of those things.”

Rippon became a household name in the U.S. over those two weeks in February 2018, a celebrity status he has since used to become a mainstay on American TV, host podcasts (more on that below) and parlay his on-ice success with achievements away from the sporting space.

All while staying true to his quick-witted yet warm approach.

“I think that for so many athletes – and I include myself in this – sports was a place to escape feeling so out of place, a place where I felt like I finally belonged,” he said. “And it saved me in so many different ways. I think that every single person should be afforded that opportunity to find a place where they feel like they can belong and where they will be embraced and supported.”

‘There’s a place for all of us’

That inclusion is something Rippon knows other queer athletes are fighting for in various ways, including on the non-binary and transgender fronts.

At Tokyo 2020 in 2021, Canadian footballer Quinn became the first out non-binary and trans person to win an Olympic medal (gold!), while Rippon’s longtime friend Timothy LeDuc became the first non-binary Winter Olympian when they skated at Beijing 2022 for Team USA.

But the challenges are many – and the pushback has been fierce.

“I will always ferociously support trans people in sports because I think there's a place for all of us,” Rippon said plainly.

Earlier this year, Skate Canada peeled back one of many layers that Rippon acknowledges exists in his sport and beyond, changing the language in its by-laws to allow for pairs and ice dance teams to be comprised of any "two skaters" regardless of gender.

“When we take what we think we already know out of the equation we create a whole new level of beauty of what we didn't think was possible before,” Rippon said, calling out a viral video of Olympic champion Gabriella Papadakis ice dancing with fellow medallist Madison Hubbell. “We can see these two incredible women, one leading the other... when we broaden the horizons, we open the door for so many different possibilities.”

The LGBTQ+ athlete and allyship

Earlier this month, Australian gymnast Heath Thorpe opened up in an exclusive interview with Olympics.com about his own queer story, but also the importance of allyship – especially within sport.

Rippon agrees.

“It's so important to know that the people around you – if they're not part of the LGBTQIA+ community – that they will support you and rally around you when things can get a bit muddy,” he said. “I knew that being an out athlete wasn’t going to change the way my coach Rafael Arutunian treated me. In fact, after I came out, he respected me more.”

“I was more open to [coaching] criticism and learning... because I wasn’t afraid of who I was. It made me a better athlete.”

Rippon believes without the support from his training hub in Los Angeles – which included Arutunian and close friend Ashley Wagner – he would have struggled further, while also being uncertain of how (or if) he faced that aforementioned spotlight glare in PyeongChang.

“It's so important to queer athletes to know that they will have that support system, that the allyship will be there,” he said. “And so to have that space to know that you will be accepted and that you are welcome here, that is so vital and so important for young athletes who are still in the closet.”

Two microphones and going to... ‘Mars’

Rippon has stayed close to his Southern California training base, where he lives with his partner JP and their dog, Tony. He’s busy co-hosting two podcasts: Normalize This with Danielle Young (a podcast that dives into trends, behaviors and stigmas in culture) and The Runthrough, a new skating podcast he and Wagner started with producer Sarah Hughes. (Not Olympic gold medallist Sarah Hughes, Rippon clarifies.)

“What's nice is that Ashley and I can see a skating competition from a completely different point of view, and I think that we're far enough out from our own experience that we can relate in a new way,” he said. “I've always loved skating and it feels like it's a really great excuse for me to watch it and then to have somebody to talk about it.”

His conversations with Young, which have included topics like alternative medicine, therapy and second chances in relationships go deep – in a different way.

“We talk about hitting rock bottom... everyone has felt that at some point,” Rippon said. “We have some of these tougher conversations and talk about things that might be a little bit more taboo.”

He also made a recent trip to outer space... sort of. He travelled to Australia last year to film a TV show called Stars on Mars, a celebrity competition show where teams have to work together in spookily real simulated life-on-Mars challenges. 

“I always like to think that, ‘Oh, I'm not competitive,’ but then when I get into a situation like this, it's like this monster comes out of my soul,” Rippon laughed. “It was great because having that athletic mentality going into some of these missions was super helpful.

“I feel like me as a person, I like blurring those lines between athlete and entertainer,” he added. Stars on Mars airs weekly in the U.S. on Monday nights on FOX.

Rippon: Nathan Chen comeback depends on 'motivation'

He has also – through his podcast with Wagner and beyond – kept a close eye on skating, calling out Uno Shoma as his favourite skater right now (“he’s so magnetic and engaging”) and celebrating the quad Axel of Ilia Malinin (“it’s super cool seeing someone push the technical barrier the way he is”).

But does he think his former training mate, the Olympic champion Nathan Chen, will make a comeback ahead of Milano Cortina 2026?

“I don’t think Nathan Chen is going to come back. But what do I know? Maybe he will,” Rippon quipped, then added: “There is still space for him, yes. And he can come back and still be very competitive.”

“I think it really depends on where Nathan's motivation comes from,” he said. “If it comes from wanting to improve or try different artistic choices, if he feels the motivation to compete, I think he absolutely still could.

"But if you've already achieved the biggest accomplishment you can in individual skating, an Olympic gold medal, I think it really depends on where your head is and what is your motivation.”