Olympic free-skier Gus Kenworthy says
that he experienced homophobia while in Russia.
Kenworthy, who won the silver medal at
the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, told UK glossy Attitude
that he and his boyfriend were denied the accommodations they asked
for at a hotel.
Kenworthy has previously said that he
considered coming out during the Sochi games.
“I felt shitty,” Kenworthy
said of being closeted during the games.
“I wasn’t worried about being
targeted necessarily, because nobody knew that I was gay but I still
felt uncomfortable knowing how Russia, the country and the
government, felt about me. I had been in Russia the year before for
the test event with my boyfriend and they wouldn’t let us check
into the hotel room. They were like, 'Two guys can’t be in the same
bed..'”
“You quickly realize that you don’t
want to be in the country anymore. The Olympics are the pinnacle
sporting event in the world, where it’s supposed to be about all
these countries coming together and yet you have this country that’s
so backwards in their thinking hosting it.”
“I don’t want to sound ungrateful
because I had a good experience, but it just felt like it was an
unfit hosting country,” he added.