Out skier Gus Kenworthy discussed his
“fast” friendship with out figure skater Adam Rippon in an
interview with People.
Kenworthy, 26, and Rippon, 28, are the
two openly gay athletes on Team USA competing at the Winter Olympics
in South Korea. Both have also spoken out in support of LGBT rights.
Kenworthy told People that they “will
be friends for life.”
“Us becoming friends just happened
kind of naturally,” Kenworthy
said. “The first time I heard about him was because he was one
of the other openly gay athletes trying to make it to the Games. And
so I started following him and he was following me, and we started
exchanging messages and catching up on each other’s qualifying
processes and rooting each other on.”
“It’s a stressful time in any
athlete’s life, and we were sort of dealing with the same
pressures. So I think we had a lot to kind of connect over.”
“It was just like sparks flying, like
instant friends, fast friends,” Kenworthy said. “I love the guy.
I think he’s hilarious, I think he’s so sweet, so charming, so
I’m very excited about our friendship.”
Kenworthy, who is dating actor Matthew
Wilkas (Gayby), added that he wanted to show support for
Rippon because he's “so proud of him” and “our entire LGBT
community.”
(Related: Gus
Kenworthy, Matt Wilkas share kiss on live Olympic TV.)