15 Out Athletes at the 2018 Olympics, Illustrated

Eric Radford, illustration by Ego Rodriguez

Canada
Figure Skating (pairs)

A two-time world champion with skating partner Meaghan Duhamel, Radford heads to PyeongChang with a reputation for technical mastery in his sport. The pair in 2014 perfected the quadruple throw salchow. In 2014, months after competing in Sochi, Radford came out publicly as gay, the first elite figure skater to do at the height of his career. After winning the Canadian national championship in January, Radford and Duhamel head to the Winter Olympics representing their nation one more time.

Adam Rippon, illustration by Ego Rodriguez

USA
Men’s Figure Skating

Rippon will join the list of out Olympians when he competes for the U.S. in PyeongChang in February. The U.S. National Champion in 2016, Rippon hoped to make the team in 2006 and 2010 but fell short both years. Rippon came in fourth at the National Championships in Jamuary, but based on strong competition this year still got the second American slot to compete at the Olympics in men’s singles. Rippon publicly came out in an issue of Skating magazine in 2015, and he will be the first figure skater to represent the U.S. at the Olympics while out.

Ireen Wüst, illustration by Ego Rodriguez

Netherlands
Speed Skating (Long Track)

At age 19, Wüst became the youngest Dutch Olympic champion in Winter Olympian history by taking the gold in 3,000-meter event at the 2006 games in Torino. The bisexual athlete is now considered the most successful female Winter Olympian in the Netherlands’ history, having won gold in the 1,500 meter at Vancouver and taking two golds at Sochi, in the 3,000-meter and in team pursuit, along with three silvers. She’s now the star female competitor for her homeland, competing in the 2018 games in three events during this, her fourth and final games. If she wins another gold, it would make her the first Dutch Olympian to ever top the podium at four Olympics.

Gus Kenworthy, illustration by Ego Rodriguez

USA
Freestyle Skiing

The freestyle skier won a silver medal in Sochi in 2014 as part of an American sweep in the slopestyle skiing event. A year later, he came out to ESPN. The X Games star heads to PyeongChangafter clinching a spot on the slopestyle team, hoping this time to come home with a gold medal around his neck. Already, Kenworthy has seen sponsors drawn to his story, and he’s shaping up to be one of this year’s big stars for Team USA.

Cheryl Maas, illustration by Ego Rodriguez

Netherlands
Snowboard

The 33-year-old Dutchwoman finished a stunningly strong sixth place at her first Big Air competition of the season in Milan, and if she can keep up that level of performance will compete in both Big Air and Slopeboard at PyeongChang. She’s already nabbed her spot on the Netherlands Snowboard team. so she will be in Korea this year. The lesbian snowboarder made headlines at Sochi when she became the first Olympian to openly defy a "gay propaganda" law by raising a rainbow unicorn glove to the cameras.

Daniela Iraschko-Stolz, illustration by Ego Rodriguez

Austria
Ski Jumping

The star skier holds the women’s ski flying record (200 meters), which she achieved way back in 2003. But the 33-year-old remains one of the most successful women in sports. She took a silver medal in Sochi, the second out athlete to do so at those games. This year, she’s been blasting past competition in the Continental Cup series, but says winning for Austria at the Olympics remains her top priority for the year. She married wife Isabel Stoltz in 2013.

Barbara Jezeršek, illustration by Ego Rodriguez

Australia
Cross-Country Skiing

The European-born skier represented her native Slovenia at Olympics in 2010 and 2014, but has since moved Down Under and this year will represent her new Australian homeland at the 2018 games. She finished in the top 20 for the skiathlon event in both Vancouver and Sochi, and consistently has been ranked internationally this year. Now she’s ready to conquer the snows of PyeongChang, competing in the 15-kilometer skiathlon, the 10-kilometer free, the spring and team spring, and the epic 30-kilometer mass start.

Belle Brockhoff, illustration by Ego Rodriguez

Australia
Snowboard Cross

Despite an injury in early 2017, expectations are high for this star snowboarder. She was the first Aussie to medal at a World Cup snowboarding competition and was among seven out athletes competing at Sochi in 2014, having come out as lesbian in protest of Russia’s "gay propaganda" law, and she’s been a vocal face of Principle 6, the Olympic charter’s nondiscrimination statement. She once again has a spot on Australia’s Olympic team competing in snowboard cross, so long as physicians clear her to compete.

Simona Meilor, illustration by Ego Rodriguez

Switzerland
Snowboard
Simona Meilor will compete this year for Switzerland in Snowboard Cross. She also competed for her homeland in 2014 in Sochi, and spoke then to Swiss outlet SWI about being the only out athlete on the Swiss Olympic team and why she signed a petition asking the International Olympic Committee to pressure Russia to reconsider its anti-gay propaganda laws. This will be her third Olympic games; she also competed in Vancouver in 2010.

Brittany Bowe, illustration by Ego Rodriguez

USA
Speed Skating Long Track
The long-track star has been setting world records and winning world medals since her Olympic debut at Sochi in 2014. At US qualifying this year, she was the top American in the 500- and 1,500-meters, and also qualified in the 1,000-meters with a second-place performance. In October, she discussed her relationship with fellow skater Manon Kamminga of The Netherlands with NBC News.

Šárka Pančochová, illustration by Ego Rodriguez

Czech Republic
Snowboard
The Czech snowboarder competed in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and the 2014 games in Sochi, making finals in slopestyle at the latter games. Now she heads to PyeongChang for her third games and her first since coming out. She came out to OutSports in March 2017.

Emilia Andersson Ramboldt, illustration by Ego Rodriguez

Sweden
Hockey
Ramboldt will return to the Olympics once again. The defender represented Sweden at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, but did not play at the 2014 games. She married wife Anna in 2016, according to Go Magazine. She’s represented both Sweden and Canada in international competition.

Jorik Hendrickx, illustration by Ego Rodriguez

Belgium
Figure Skating
Belgian figure skater Jorik Hendrickx this year will be the only male figure skater representing Belgium at the 2018 Winter Olympics. The only other skater for his nation, as it happens, is his sister Loena, but unlike some other famous skating siblings these two will both compete in individual events. Hendrickx spoke in January spoke to Dutch media outlet ZiZo about what it’s like to travel in an international sport when homosexuality is still frowned upon in much of the world. He competed at the Sochi games in 2014, where he finished in 16th place, but says he refused then to publicly answer any questions about his sexuality.

Kim Meylemans, illustration by Ego Rodriguez

When Kim Meylemans competes in skeleton at this year in PyeongChang, she will be the first athlete ever to represent Belgium in the event at an Olympic games. The German-born slider is openly gay, according to Belgian magazine ZiZo.

Sophie Vercruyssen, illustration by Ego Rodriguez

This Belgian athlete switched from basketball to bobsledding after watching the sport at the Sochi Olympics in 2014, then went on to win a silver at the 2016 European championships. She will slide for Belgium at the Olympics in PyeongChang this year. On Instagram, she just announced her five-year anniversary with romantic partner Lore Simons, but tells Belgian magazine ZiZo that she has been open about her relationship and the post should not considered any kind of “coming out.”

15 Out Athletes at the 2018 Olympics, Illustrated

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