Out LGBTQ athletes are already crushing it at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. With only seven of our 14 out athletes competing so far, three of them have already won a medal.
Of note are Canada’s Eric Radford and the United States’ Adam Rippon. With their team event figure skating medals — Radford with gold and Rippon with bronze — they are the first two publicly out gay men to ever win a Winter Olympic medal.
In 2014, 47% of the out athletes won a medal at the Summer Olympcis in Rio. Yes, this means that out athletes win more often than just about anyone else. Ha ha.
Here’s the rundown of all of the publicly out LGBTQ competitors in the Winter Olympics so far:
Emilia Andersson Ramboldt (Sweden, ice hockey)
Sweden beat Japan, 2-1, in the team’s Olympic opener. Rambolt played a total of 21 minutes in the game.
Barbara Jezeršek (Australia, cross country skiing)
Jezeršek finished 39th of 62 competitors in the Ladies’ 7.5KM + 7.5KM Skiathlon.
Cheryl Maas (Netherlands, snowboarding)
The ladies’ slopestyle was interrupted before publication, after delays relating to strong winds. Maas was 18th in both runs she executed and finished 23rd overall.
Sarka Pancochova (Czech Republic, snowboarding)
The ladies’ slopestyle was interrupted before publication, after delays relating to strong winds. Maas was 11th and 13th in the two runs she executed and finished 16th overall.
Eric Radford (Canada, pairs figure skating)
Radford and partner Meagan Duhamel shined over the weekend, finishing second and first in the short program and free skate respectively in the team event. He won a gold medal for his effort. He is the first publicly out gay man to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics.
Adam Rippon (USA, figure skating)
Rippon finished third in the team event men’s free skate. He earned a bronze medal in the team event with Team USA. With Radford, he’s the first publicly out gay man to win a medal in the Winter Olympics.
Ireen Wüst (Netherlands, speed skating)
The Dutch Olympic legend won a silver medal in the 3,000 meter, losing out on a gold by just .08 seconds.
Check out our list of all the out LGBTQ athletes competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
You can find complete Winter Olympics 2018 coverage on SB Nation, and Outsports will have the LGBT angle.
