A dream come true.
That’s what competing in the Winter Olympics was to Adam Rippon. Before his free skate performance in the team event Monday morning (it’s Sunday night in the U.S.), he told NBC that he’d almost given up on making it to the Olympics after missing out on the 2014 U.S. Olympic team. But he didn’t give up.
Now he’s officially, unquestionably, an Olympic athlete.
And he absolutely nailed it. The commentators were blown away by his grace and presence on the ice. In an outfit that had more glitter than a thousand rainbows, Rippon was radiant from start to finish.
He drew tears from many people watching in the arena and in their living rooms.
Somehow he finished with a third-place score (he was second place after his skate).
Commentator Johnny Weir wasn’t having it.
“Adam was absolutely spellbinding today,” Weir said. “I’m a little bit taken aback as to why he’s in second place.”
Just eight years ago Weir was robbed by the judging system as well, so he knows what he’s talking about. If a skater doesn’t have some quad jumps in his routine, he’s not going to score as well as he would have otherwise.
After the event, Rippon answered a question about his experience in pure Rippon.
After a long sigh…
“Andrea, it’s like pretty awesome,” he said. “I highly recommend it.”
The United States is still in third place in the team event, just two points ahead of Italy, with two more team event competitions to go.
You can find complete Winter Olympics 2018 coverage on SB Nation, and Outsports will have the LGBT angle.
