Olympic Figure Skater Adam Rippon Made History By Being True To Himself

Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon embodies the idea that some things are worth the wait. Born in 1989, Rippon is the oldest of six children of a single mom in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He battled many health complications, having been born nearly deaf with a severe eye infection. He was actually late to get into figure skating compared to many Olympic athletes — he didn’t fully take up the sport until he was about 10.

In 2008 and 2009 he became the first man to win back to back Junior World Skating titles. He was also an alternate for the U.S. figure skating team in Vancouver in 2010. He looked like he would surely be attending the Sochi Olympics, but his performance at the 2014 U.S. Championship’s kept him off the team.

But this wasn’t it for the figure skater, who decided to revive his chance at gold by becoming completely true to himself. In October 2015, he officially came out as a gay man. This allowed him to excel in his sport and skate his way into South Korea for the 2018 Winter Olympics. At 28, he is the oldest rookie Olympic figure skater in 82 years, as well as the first openly gay man to qualify for the Winter Olympics in U.S history. His success is proof that it’s never too late to conquer what you want to achieve.