Gus Kenworthy Crosses the Pond for Chance at Olympic Gold

Gus Kenworthy 2022! For Olympic gold, that is.

He was born in Britain, but growing up in the U.S., he’s always been Team America. To honor his mom, he now wants to ski for Ye Olde England. Born in Chelmford Essex, Kenworthy’s family moved from England to Telluride in 1993 when he was two years old. His father, American Mountainfilm film festival director Peter Kenworthy, met his wife Pip in England, and the two moved their family to the U.S. when the kids were young.

The 28-year-old free skier has competed in his last two Olympic games for the U.S., skiing in the categories of slope style, half pipe, and big air competitions. Like a typical Colorado mountain kid, he graduated from high school a year late, as he took a year off to ski. He wants to honor his mom and represent the LGBTQ population globally in the skiing world for what he says is his last Olympics.

After winning the silver medal in men’s slopestyle in the Winter Games in Sochi in 2014, he came out publicly as gay in 2015 in an interview on ESPN. Kenworthy did not collect a medal in 2018, but his same-gender kiss with then partner, Mathew Wilkas, was a first to be televised during the Pyeongchang Korea Winter Olympics. Breaking barriers and stigma with this good luck kiss from Wilkas before his qualifying run, the two didn’t even know they got caught on film, but it ended up being an iconic move for LGBTQ athletes.

“I think the only way to change perceptions, break down homophobia, break down barriers, is through representation. That’s something that I didn’t have as a kid. I definitely didn’t see a gay athlete at the Olympics kissing their boyfriend. And I think that if I had, it would have made it a lot easier for me. Hopefully it did that for other people,” Kenworthy stated in Time magazine last February after the kiss.

Even after racking up quite a few credits on IMDB with appearances in American Horror Story:1984, RuPaul’s Drag Race, and a stint in Sharknado 5: Global Swarming, he states this will be his last Olympic competition. Always a champion for the underdog, he touts adopting rescue dogs and poo-poo’s breeders over saving a life. In fact, he stayed over a month after the Olympics in Sochi to save several rescues and even fought to bring some home.

“This third time around, I feel it’s going to be a totally different approach to the Games for me,” he told BBC News.

*Pic provided by Gus’s Facebook page.