LGBT figure skaters use Olympic platform to tell new stories: Their own

Eight years after just seven out LGBT athletes in total competed at the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014, some 35 members of the queer community are going for gold at Beijing 2022.

No out queer figure skater competed at the Games in 2014 but, just four years after Adam Rippon and Eric Radford became the first at PyeongChang 2018, the sport will feature nine queer skaters - with Rippon watching rinkside in Beijing as a coach - during these Games.

"What brings me so much joy is to think of the representation of the queer community now versus just four years ago," Rippon told Olympics.com last month. "Growing up, I could never imagine seeing so many out and proud queer figure skaters. I think it's so incredible, and I'm so proud of the athletes who are competing in Beijing - as themselves."

The list, compiled by the LGBT sports site Outsports.com, includes French skater Guillaume Cizeron, a gold medal hope in ice dance, as well as U.S. pairs skater Timothy LeDuc, who is the first out non-binary athlete to compete at a Winter Games.

A non-binary person is someone who does not feel as though they fit into the category of being male or female. LeDuc (whose pronouns are they/them/theirs), is using their platform to help others understand what it means to be non-binary - particularly in a sport that has existed within it for so long.

"I've always felt that I didn't quite align with the expectations that were put on me - masculinity always felt forced, like something I had to do," LeDuc said last month after qualifying for the Games. "It never felt authentic to me. When I was finally given the tools and shown the examples that I can exist outside of that, it made sense - I felt whole. I thrive expressing myself in these ways."

They continued: "It's really challenging being in a gendered sport sometimes... but me and Ashley (Cain-Gribble, LeDuc's partner) get to just be ourselves and be two amazing athletes who come together and create something beautiful."

Cizeron, a four-time world champion with partner Gabriella Papadakis, spoke about his coming out story on the Olympic Channel original series, On Edge.

"It's been nice to see that younger people - and even some skating fans who were bullied and are still being bullied - find an escape in figure skating, in watching it," he said in an episode of On Edge. "And I think being able for them to share their difficulties with me has helped them a little bit."

Flying the flag: We want to 'help the world change'

Radford, Cizeron and LeDuc are joined by French singles skater Kevin Aymoz, American Jason Brown, Canadian ice dancer Paul Poirier, Italian pairs skater Filippo Ambrosini, Armenian ice dancer Simon Proulx Senecal and British ice dancer Lewis Gibson - who also features with Cizeron in the On Edge series - as out athletes in Beijing.

"The Olympics are for peace, so I'm really happy to make further peace in the world," said Aymoz, who has fought through injuries this season and placed 10th in the men's short program. "[The] Olympics is to represent every country and all the people - and love and the best of sport. Being out, I feel great for myself, but I feel great to be a part of the fight, to help the world change."

Brown, who came out in June 2021 - on the same day as Poirier - expresses gratitude for those who came before this generation to lay the groundwork for athletes to feel comfortable to be outspoken.

Now he's taking up that mantle, too.

"It's incredible," he said when told of the over 30 athletes competing at the Games. "I think it's amazing. [The] visibility is just growing for other people to come [out]... I'm so proud to be a part of that."

Brown continued to wow with his skating on Tuesday (8 February) in the men's short, placing sixth with his chilling Nina Simone 'Sinnerman' program, which was the final skate of the day.

An Olympian at age 19 in 2014, Brown wrote on Instagram when he came out last year that, "I am who I am, and have always been fortunate to be surrounded by people who made me feel like that was enough."

He's hoping now his Olympic story will help others in that way.

Breaking stereotypes - and barriers

Cizeron, Poirier and LeDuc have been leaders when it comes to pushing the sport away from gender roles and biases. While figure skating has a rich history in athleticism and artistry, the sport has slowly turned the corner away from male-female roles that have so long stayed in place.

"We're lucky because our sport is artistic and we get to express ourselves while we're skating," Poirier told Olympics.com. "I'm excited to be a part of that contingent of LGBT athletes. I'm just excited to share our skating, share who we are as people. This is our opportunity to be our complete selves in every way."

Poirier and his skating partner Piper Gilles have pushed nuanced, expressive programs that are many-layered, as have Papadakis and Cizeron, who many credit for ushering the discipline into a new era of modern dance and movement.

When Cizeron stood up publicly this season to criticism from within the sport about his sexuality, the International Skating Union launched an investigation into the comments.

"Masculinity, as femininity, is a very personal and beautiful thing that doesn't need to be defined, certainly not by anyone else but yourself," Cizeron wrote in response on Instagram. "What makes you a man, a woman, a non-binary [person] or anything in between, has nothing to do with your sexual orientation, and even less with your abilities, your value, your skills or the level of respect that you deserve."

LeDuc feels much the same with how the pairs discipline can evolve - and that doesn't have to leave out romantic programs which have been the norm in generations past.

How else can skating expand as athletes express themselves more as people and artists?

"There's nothing inherently wrong with doing romantic programs," they said. "I think we also need to make more space for those other kinds of stories to be told and allow those stories to excel in the same way."

"It's about not leaning on the standard portrayals of gender norms," they said. "Allow people to exist outside of those standards and expectations - and tell other stories how they choose."

Click here for the full list of out LGBT athletes at Beijing 2022