In an interview with UK LGBT glossy
Attitude, out skier Gus Kenworthy discussed his decision to
represent Great Britain at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Kenworthy, who came out gay in 2015,
represented the United States during previous Olympic games in 2018
and 2014.
“Basically, it’s my last Olympics,”
Kenworthy said. “I’ve competed twice for the US, I’ve won a
medal for the US, I feel quite proud to have done that, and I was
raised in the US and consider myself American but I also consider
myself a Brit.”
“I was born over here, my mum is
British, and so, I wanted to honor my heritage and honor my mum, and
she has stood at the bottom waving the American flag for me so I’d
quite like to do the same but the opposite for her.”
During the 2018 Winter Games in South
Korea, Kenworthy made headlines when he kissed his then-boyfriend
Matt Wilkas after a run. When asked whether he would repeat the kiss
in Beijing, Kenworthy said yes.
“I mean, for sure, I think it’s
important to have visual representation and I think doing something
like that publicly in a country where they are opposed to it speaks
very loudly. It’s like a peaceful protest,” Kenworthy said.
“But the kiss in Korea was not meant
to be any protest or intended to be anything.”
“I didn’t even know it was going to
be filmed. I’m not going to plan anything big but if I have a
boyfriend at the games for sure I will kiss him before the run and
after the run. It’s just normal for me,” he
said.
Kenworthy added that competing for
Great Britain gave him a “better chance of going for gold than I
would have in the US just because the qualification process is a
little different.”