Olympian Gus Kenworthy announced on
Thursday that he's gay.
“I am gay,” Kenworthy tweeted to
his more than 116,000 followers. “Today is the first day of the
rest of my life.”
Kenworthy, 24, told his story to ESPN.
“[Kenworthy] is the top freeskier on
the planet, an Olympic medalist, a face of the X Games,” ESPN
wrote in a cover story. “[H]e is an athlete with a lot to
lose. … And so, as we sit down together in Los Angeles in
September, he begins the only way he knows how: 'I guess I should
start by saying, I'm gay.'”
He said that he was unable to be proud
of winning silver in Sochi because he “felt so horrible about what
I didn't do.”
“I didn't want to come out as the
silver medalist from Sochi,” Kenworthy said. “I wanted to come
out as the best freeskier in the world.”
“I want to be the guy who comes out,
wins shit and is like, I'm taking names,” he added.
Later on Thursday, Kenworthy posted a
photo of himself holding a bouquet of flowers, which he said were
from his mother. “Despite hundreds of online marriage proposals
the first (and only) person to send me flowers is my mom...
#imaloser,” he wrote.