PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Gus Kenworthy was nursing a hip hematoma, a broken right finger and a bruised ego after a 12th-place finish in the men’s ski slopestyle final, the same event where he won the silver medal four years ago.
Speaking on Sunday while the ceremony introducing the medalists proceeded without him at Phoenix Snow Park in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Kenworthy said, “It’s all good.”
This is Kenworthy’s second Olympics but his first as an openly gay athlete. He and Adam Rippon, the only other openly gay male athlete on the United States team, will not leave here with individual gold medals, but they are among the biggest American stars at these Games.
At the 2014 Games in Sochi, Kenworthy reached out to the singer Miley Cyrus on social media and asked if she would be his valentine. Here at the Pyeongchang Games, Kenworthy, 26, has engaged in physical displays of affection with men in public. He gave Rippon a peck on the cheek during the opening ceremony and kissed his boyfriend, Matthew Wilkas, before Sunday’s qualifying runs.
If Kenworthy had to choose between winning a medal while leading a closeted existence or failing to grace the podium while living an authentic life, it wouldn’t be close.
“If you look at me, I’m bummed but I’m not sulking, I’m not crying,” he said, adding, “Being out at these Games has kind of meant the world to me, just getting to really be myself and be authentic. And I think landing a run in the final and getting on the podium obviously would have been icing on the cake, but even though it didn’t happen for me I still had a wonderful Olympic experience.”
In Sochi, the United States swept the podium, with Joss Christensen taking the gold and Nick Goepper the bronze. On Sunday, Goepper scored 93.60 on his third and final jump to vault into second place, behind Norway’s Oystein Braaten. Alex Beaulieu-Marchand of Canada earned the bronze.
Kenworthy qualified for the finals with a second-run score of 90.80, but he could not put together a complete run in the end. Of his three attempts, his third showed the most promise, but he bailed on the final stretch after he said he became “wobbly” on his edges.
“I wasn’t able to set up my next jumps and I tried to think on the fly and compensate and come up with something else but it didn’t work,” he said. At the finish line, he removed his helmet and shrugged.
On the eve of the slopestyle final, Kenworthy and his boyfriend attended the men’s free skate to support Rippon, where they proudly waved a rainbow flag. Kenworthy said he was unaware that a television camera had recorded his pre-competition kiss with Wilkas.
“I think that’s amazing,” he said. That’s something I wanted at the last Olympics, to share a kiss with my boyfriend at the bottom and it was something I was too scared to do for myself. And so to be able to do that, to give him a kiss and have that affection broadcast for the world is incredible.”
“That’s not something I had as a kid,” he added. “I didn’t see a gay athlete at the Olympics kissing their boyfriend. I think if I had it would have made it a lot easier for me.”
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