Kenworthy wins without making the podium

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February 18, 2018 3:42 PM

Gus Kenworthy was nursing a hip hematoma, a broken right finger and a bruised ego after a 12th-place finish in the men’s ski slopestyle final, the same event where he won the silver medal four years ago.

Speaking Sunday while the ceremony introducing the medalists proceeded without him at Phoenix Snow Park in Pyeongchang, Kenworthy said, “It’s all good.”

This is Kenworthy’s second Olympics but his first as an openly gay athlete. He and Adam Rippon, the only other openly gay male athlete on the U.S. team, will not leave here with individual gold medals, but they are among the biggest American stars at these games.

At the 2014 Games in Sochi, Kenworthy reached out to singer Miley Cyrus on social media and asked if she would be his valentine. Here at the Pyeongchang Games, Kenworthy, 26, has engaged in physical displays of affection with men in public. He gave Rippon a peck on the cheek during the opening ceremony and kissed his boyfriend, Matthew Wilkas, before Sunday’s qualifying runs.

If Kenworthy had to choose between winning a medal while leading a closeted existence or failing to grace the podium while living an authentic life, it wouldn’t be close.

“If you look at me, I’m bummed but I’m not sulking, I’m not crying,” he said, adding, “Being out at these games has kind of meant the world to me, just getting to really be myself and be authentic. And I think landing a run in the final and getting on the podium obviously would have been icing on the cake, but even though it didn’t happen for me I still had a wonderful Olympic experience.”

In Sochi, the United States swept the podium, with Joss Christensen taking the gold and Nick Goepper the bronze. On Sunday, Goepper scored 93.60 on his third and final jump to vault into second place, behind Norway’s Oystein Braaten. Alex Beaulieu-Marchand of Canada earned the bronze.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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