Adam Rippon

I enjoyed playing the other sports. I just sucked at them. ”

I'm able to go out there, and I'm really able to be, like, unabashedly myself. And I want somebody who's young, who's struggling, who's not sure if it's OK if they are themselves to know that it's OK. ”

It's 2018, and being an openly gay man and an athlete, that is part of the face of America now. ”

Given this platform of being an Olympic athlete, I think it's really important that we stand up for what we believe in, and we speak out against things that we think are wrong and injust. ”

Athletes are given a really special platform. It's our duty, as athletes, to be role models. ”

My earliest memory of the Olympics was watching the 1996 Games in Atlanta. I remember everyone being so excited to watch. Seeing the American athletes on the podium, I saw myself. I knew that that was what I wanted to do. I wanted to be one of those athletes on the podium representing their country and bringing home medals. ”

Being gay is not something that defines me. What defines me is what my mom always taught me: to treat everyone with respect, to always be a hard worker, and to be kind. ”

1988 Olympic Champion Brian Boitano was famous for doing a Lutz with one arm over his head. And I wanted to build on that. ”

I've never made a meal that I wasn't able to eat, but it that doesn't mean anyone else would ever eat it, haha! ”

I've gotten so many messages I could even get emotional thinking about it, but I've gotten so many messages from young kids all over the country that my story's resonated with them. ”