I want to represent my country to the best of my abilities. I want to make Reese Witherspoon proud.
Adam Rippon
Haters are fans in denial.
I'm not like a gay icon or America's gay sweetheart. I'm just America's sweetheart, and I'm just an icon.
I can't tone it down. I'm being me and being myself.
I think it's so important for somebody like me to stand up for the things I believe in and speak up on things I don't think are right.
I don't think he has a real concept of reality. To stand by some of the things that Donald Trump has said and for Mike Pence to say he's a devout Christian man is completely contradictory.
I remember my mom let me stay up late and watch Tara Lipinski and Michelle Kwan compete in the 1998 Olympic Games. I made paper medals and wore them the whole night. I didn't start skating until 2000, but I was so inspired by their skating that it was why I wanted to start.
There's no such thing as a wardrobe malfunction - only a wardrobe opportunity.
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.
All the sacrifices my mom and family had made had been worth it.
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.
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.
I don't follow the rules!
I think I had a stress fracture before I broke my foot, and I think that was absolutely because I was not getting enough nutrients.
I've used my sense of humor as a coping tool. It's gotten me through a lot of challenging times.
I don't want my Olympic experience to be about Mike Pence. You know, I want it to be about my amazing skating and being America's sweetheart.
I've gotten a lot of attention, I think, just for being myself. I think that a lot of people, when they come to a competition, are afraid to be themselves no matter who they are.
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.
Representing the U.S.A. is one of the greatest honors of my life, and being able to do it as my authentic self makes it all so much sweeter.
I can't explain witchcraft.
Being gay has never been a big deal to me, which is why it's a little funny to be getting all this attention about it.
I'm really go-with-the-flow, but I take things really seriously. At the same time, when things don't go my way, I don't ever freak out. Why? Why freak out?
I'm confident in who I and what I'm doing.
Sometimes I'll be listening to NPR at the gym, and I'll hear them say, 'Oh, Donald Trump did this today.' And I'm like, 'What?' All of a sudden, I have more energy than if I drank an espresso.
I'm like a witch! You can't kill me!
If I forgot to put something on, and I have to wear a trash bag, I'm just like, 'I'm gonna rock a trash bag today.'
Sometimes I just get attention, and I really don't know how it happens.
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 know what it's like to be young and to feel like you don't belong.
Sometimes I might meet people, and they might just not like me, not want to get to know me. And that's OK. They're boring as hell anyway.
I don't find it distracting to be me.
I am usually wearing some sort of see-through when I am competing.
I think I've shown the world I'm a fierce competitor, yes. But I've also shown them that I'm a fierce human being.
It's my world, and the rest of us are living in it.
When I found skating, it was something that was individual, and it was something that I could focus on being my best. And I loved the whole practice, and I also loved performing. It was probably the first time I felt really good about myself and that I was good at something, because I always liked being athletic.
I always said that if I had the platform and the opportunity to share my story and make it easier for others, I would - so that, in a way, I can be the role model that I was looking for as a kid.
I know that I can do myself better than anybody else can.
I love to have my own story, my own path, and forge ahead because my career isn't going to be like anyone else's.
I can see my competitors sweating, and I am cool as a cucumber.
I feel so honored that I've had the opportunity to share my story with so many people.
I can't tone it down. I'm being me, and I'm being myself, and I'd be doing myself an injustice, and I'd be doing an injustice to those kids who don't feel like they're comfortable to be themselves.
As soon as I broke my foot, I remember thinking that I'm going to make this the best thing that's ever happened to me.
It's 2018, and being an openly gay man and an athlete, that is part of the face of America now.
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 always spoken my mind and from the heart.
I looked around and saw my competitors: they're all doing these quads, and at the same time, they're a head shorter than me, they're 10 years younger than me, and they're the size of one of my legs.
Honestly, it's really fun to be yourself. It's really fun to be me.
I want to inspire other young kids, no matter what their background is or where they're from or anything like that, that they can go out there and, if you work hard, you can do anything.
I personally don't have anything to say to Mike Pence. I'm very lucky because legislation that he's pushed hasn't affected my life at all. I spoke out because there are people out there whose lives have been affected by change that he's tried to make.
I would say that I'm a hot mess all the time.
