tastykake:

In the fall of 2015, Rippon came out publicly in an article in Skating Magazine.

“I realize now that it’s important that I share my story,” Rippon said. “. . . Also, it’ll be easy for me to do an interview, to interact with people. When you’re not hiding anything, it’s just very easy to be yourself — shockingly.”

The freedom that came with being himself changed things as much on the ice as it did off it.

He started writing his own practice plans and submitting them to his coach for review. He recommitted to fitness with a new trainer, revamped his style and suddenly looked like an entirely different skater — and, frankly, an entirely different person from the awkward, curly-haired kid who had been skating on the outside of the American elite for years. A few months after coming out, in January 2016, he won his first U.S. national championship.

“It was just like, in all aspects of my life, I felt myself owning who I was,” Rippon said. “. . . For such a long time in my life, I didn’t trust my own voice at all. I always tried to do what other people wanted. For the first time in my life, I had my own opinion.”

Figure skater Adam Rippon on coming out: ‘I felt myself owning who I was’