Olympic figure skater Eric Radford this
week announced that he's in a relationship with another man and that
the couple is raising a daughter.
Radford was part of the Canadian team
that won silver at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
He came out in an interview with
Outsports, making him the first elite figure skater to do so at the
height of his professional career.
On not coming out before the Olympics,
Radford said that he did not want to be known as “the gay athlete.”
“My concern was that I would be known
as 'the gay athlete' if I came out at the Olympics, rather than Eric
the medalling figure skater who happens to be gay. And I felt
uncomfortable with that title,” he said.
Though in reality, Radford did come out
at the Olympics, telling a Canadian reporter that his boyfriend was
in Sochi to support him. However, his comment was not published.
He explained that he and partner
Normand Piché have been
together for about four years and live in Montreal with Piché's
daughter, now a teenager.
“I'm proud of our whole situation,
how we're basically a gay family. We function great, we get along so
well. We have become a family,” Radford said. “I was only 25
when I met Normand. I don't know many gay guys that age who would
take on that responsibility. But I jumped right in. It's been fun
and fulfilling and has broadened my perspective on so many things.”