Post by Admin on Jun 27, 2020 20:11:13 GMT
“I didn’t think it was something that I wanted to ever share with people who weren’t inside my circle,” says Brian Boitano, the 1988 Olympic gold medalist in figure skating. “I just felt like it was a private thing. It was nothing that I tried to hide with my family and friends…but it was something that I wanted to share with only those people who were close to me. I didn’t feel the need to (publicly come out), really.”
Over 30 years since his Olympic triumph, Boitano does feel the need – and proudly – to discuss his sexuality, having been asked out of the closet in late 2013 as a part of the U.S. delegation for the Sochi Olympics (more on that later), and watching the sport’s modern stars like Adam Rippon, Guillaume Cizeron, Eric Radford and others be more public in their coming out stories in recent years.
“It is a different era,” said Boitano. “I do think the open-mindedness of the world and the freedom to be who you want to be is becoming more accepted. Especially with the younger generation, which is who the skaters are inspiring now.”
Boitano is clear-headed in who he was, who he is now and how it all happened. Privately open and dating men in his adult life, Boitano never spoke about his sexuality with the press, or even with close training mates like 1992 Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi, whom he traveled for years with as a competitor and on tours.
In the days following his historic “Battle of the Brians” triumph at the Olympic Winter Games Calgary 1988, Boitano had an agent in his ear reminding him the figure skating audience was predominantly female.
Having won four consecutive U.S. titles, two world championships, an Olympic gold medal and made a return to “amateur” skating (as it was) in 1993-94 to compete at the Lillehammer Games, where he was sixth, Boitano toured as a headliner in hundreds of shows and competed in now-defunct professional competitions for much of the 90s. This was skating’s heyday, the era of Nancy vs. Tonya, Kristi, Michelle vs. Tara and – of course – Brian.
He, too, branched out.
He became a TV mainstay on cooking shows, wrote a best-selling cookbook, was parodied on South Park and filled his life outside of skating, restoring a family home in Italy for an HGTV series.
But when he was named to an athlete delegation to represent the U.S. in Sochi in 2014, Boitano was not told that the other athletes being named to the same delegation were LGBTQ+ sports icon Billie Jean King, and openly gay hockey player Caitlin Cahow, a two-time Olympic medalist.
In the fervor leading up to the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014, media coverage of Russia’s so-called gay propaganda law was through the roof, and the naming of King, Cahow – and Boitano – to the delegation was poignant and pointed, yet left Boitano, who hadn’t officially publicly come out at that point in his life, in a difficult position.
“I thought, ‘If I’m going to support this, and I’m going here to support President Obama and to support his message, I have to come out,’” said Boitano.
He recalls having woken up to a press release about the delegation and his name trending on Twitter.
“I have to come out,” said Boitano. “Whether it’s ‘late’ for me, or people are surprised or not surprised, I have to make a statement, because I believed the message the President was sending.”
Having been out privately for decades, Boitano was now facing his first-ever breaking point to make a public statement about his sexuality.
So Boitano decided to send his own message.
He crafted an old-school press release that was “exactly what I wanted to say.”
“I’m glad it happened when it did for me,” said Boitano. “I wouldn’t have chosen to do it before. The sacrifice that I would have made I think would have been immense, and I had the career that I did because I didn't (come out).”
Over 30 years since his Olympic triumph, Boitano does feel the need – and proudly – to discuss his sexuality, having been asked out of the closet in late 2013 as a part of the U.S. delegation for the Sochi Olympics (more on that later), and watching the sport’s modern stars like Adam Rippon, Guillaume Cizeron, Eric Radford and others be more public in their coming out stories in recent years.
“It is a different era,” said Boitano. “I do think the open-mindedness of the world and the freedom to be who you want to be is becoming more accepted. Especially with the younger generation, which is who the skaters are inspiring now.”
Boitano is clear-headed in who he was, who he is now and how it all happened. Privately open and dating men in his adult life, Boitano never spoke about his sexuality with the press, or even with close training mates like 1992 Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi, whom he traveled for years with as a competitor and on tours.
In the days following his historic “Battle of the Brians” triumph at the Olympic Winter Games Calgary 1988, Boitano had an agent in his ear reminding him the figure skating audience was predominantly female.
Having won four consecutive U.S. titles, two world championships, an Olympic gold medal and made a return to “amateur” skating (as it was) in 1993-94 to compete at the Lillehammer Games, where he was sixth, Boitano toured as a headliner in hundreds of shows and competed in now-defunct professional competitions for much of the 90s. This was skating’s heyday, the era of Nancy vs. Tonya, Kristi, Michelle vs. Tara and – of course – Brian.
He, too, branched out.
He became a TV mainstay on cooking shows, wrote a best-selling cookbook, was parodied on South Park and filled his life outside of skating, restoring a family home in Italy for an HGTV series.
But when he was named to an athlete delegation to represent the U.S. in Sochi in 2014, Boitano was not told that the other athletes being named to the same delegation were LGBTQ+ sports icon Billie Jean King, and openly gay hockey player Caitlin Cahow, a two-time Olympic medalist.
In the fervor leading up to the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014, media coverage of Russia’s so-called gay propaganda law was through the roof, and the naming of King, Cahow – and Boitano – to the delegation was poignant and pointed, yet left Boitano, who hadn’t officially publicly come out at that point in his life, in a difficult position.
“I thought, ‘If I’m going to support this, and I’m going here to support President Obama and to support his message, I have to come out,’” said Boitano.
He recalls having woken up to a press release about the delegation and his name trending on Twitter.
“I have to come out,” said Boitano. “Whether it’s ‘late’ for me, or people are surprised or not surprised, I have to make a statement, because I believed the message the President was sending.”
Having been out privately for decades, Boitano was now facing his first-ever breaking point to make a public statement about his sexuality.
So Boitano decided to send his own message.
He crafted an old-school press release that was “exactly what I wanted to say.”
“I’m glad it happened when it did for me,” said Boitano. “I wouldn’t have chosen to do it before. The sacrifice that I would have made I think would have been immense, and I had the career that I did because I didn't (come out).”