How far and wide runs America’s sudden love affair with Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon? The fan club seems to be opening up a chapter on Sesame Street.

Before the Olympics, Rippon visited his new pals Elmo and Cookie Monster to talk about the upcoming Olympics and his sport of figure skating. He was part of an Olympic Sesame Street delegation that included Team USA members Lindsey Vonn, Jamie Anderson and Chloe Kim.

The big surprise from the visit? When Elmo asked Rippon to explain what his sport is, Rippon didn’t mention the sparkly outfits and went right for the skates themselves.

One viewer appreciated that Sesame Street hadn’t chosen a male hockey player and a female ice dancer.

“I like how they’ve shown lots of women doing stereotypically masculine sports and vice versa,” the viewer commented on the YouTube page. “It sets a nice example for kids to see that they can do anything regardless of their gender!“

After Rippon’s emotional performance in the team event, his new pal Elmo tweeted love and a dance for Rippon.

This is a big deal. To have an iconic Sesame Street character like Elmo fully embrace a totally authentic, totally open gay athlete like Rippon sends a powerful message to other kids. It sends, frankly, a life-saving message.

Kudos to Elmo and his friends at Sesame Street.

You can find complete Winter Olympics 2018 coverage on SB Nation, and Outsports will have the LGBT angle.

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