The 2022 Winter Olympics, international winter multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China.
Meet 16 LGBTQ+ Athletes Who Are Competing at the Winter Olympics 2022.
Amber Glenn: Team USA
Amber Glenn identifies as both bisexual and pansexual and will be representing USA figure-skating team as an alternate for the women’s single competition. Due to testing positive for COVID-19, Glenn was forced to withdraw from the U.S. National Championship. As of December 2019, Glenn is the only open LGBT ladies figure skater for Team USA.
Eric Radford: Team Canada
Eric Radford is a Canadian pair skater who made history in 2018 when he became the first out gay man to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics 2018 with his then partner Meagan Duhamel. and now he is returning for the Winter Olympics 2022 Games with his new partner Vanessa James.
Sarka Pancochova: Team Czech Republic
Snowboarder Sarka Pancochova of the Czech Republic will compete in all three freestyle events in Beijing: slopestyle, big air, and pipe. She married her girlfriend, Kaileen, in a beautiful ceremony in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State.
Belle Brockhoff: Team Australia
Snowboarder Belle Brockhoff of Australia is competing in her third Olympics. Brockhoff came out as a lesbian ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Timothy LeDuc: Team USA
Timothy LeDuc is a 31-year-old American figure skater who is on their way to becoming the first openly non-binary athlete to compete at an Olympic Winter Games. US Figure Skating recently announced LeDuc has been paired with Ashley Cain-Gribble to compete in Beijing. LeDuc became the first openly gay athlete to win gold in a US pairs event with their figure skating partner, Ashley Cain-Gribble, in 2019. The pair also won the 2022 US Figure Skating Championships.
Brittany Bow: Team USA
US speed skater Brittany Bowe won bronze in 2018 and is hoping for gold in 2022. Bowe was the only openly LGBTQ+ woman on Team USA at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Bruce Mouat of the British Olympic curling team said his sports psychologist helped him feel comfortable coming out as gay. Mouat will lead the British men’s curling team and compete in the mixed doubles.
Ireen Wüst: Team Netherlands
Dutch speed skater Ireen Wüst, who identifies as bisexual, is the most decorated LGBTQ+ Olympian ever with 11 medals, including five gold. Wüst came out in a 2009 interview with a Dutch magazine when she revealed she was dating then-girlfriend and fellow Dutch Olympian Sanne van Kerkhof, but she prefers not to discuss her sexuality publicly.
Andrew Blaser: Team USA
Andrew Blaser of Team USA will be the first openly gay man to compete in skeleton at the Olympics. In an episode of OutSports’ podcast Five Rings To Rule Them All, Blaser said he enjoys expressing himself at competitions with nail polish, jewelry, and a snakeskin suit.
Kévin Aymoz: Team France
Kevin Aymoz will compete in figure skating on the French Olympic team. It will be his first time competing in the Olympics. Aymoz came out as gay in 2020 in a French documentary called “Faut qu’on parle” (“We Need to Talk”) about queerness and sports.
Jason Brown: Team USA
US figure skater Jason Brown will compete in his second Olympics, having won bronze in 2014. During Pride Month 2021, Jason Brown used a social media post to come out stating, “I believe that love will always win, and every story will unfold differently for each individual. Mine unfolds a bit now. I’m gay, and that’s a story still being written…”
Guillaume Cizeron: Team France
Guillaume Cizeron of France won silver in ice dancing at the 2018 Games with his skating partner Gabriella Papadakis. Both are returning for the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022. Cizeron, who is gay, has been out for many years, and in May 2020, he made a public post of him and his boyfriend to honor International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia and to help people in places not as open to the LGBT community.
Paul Poirier: Team Canada
Canadian ice dancer Paul Poirier will compete in his third Olympics, his second paired with skating partner Piper Gilles. Poirier is a gay athlete who is planning to use his platform to bring visibility to LGBT athletes and the community through his representation of Team Canada in the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Brianne Jenner: Team Canada
Brianne Jenner of Canada’s women’s ice-hockey team will play in her third Olympics, having won gold in 2014 and silver in 2018. Jenner wed former teammate Hayleigh Cudmore in 2019, and the couple welcomed their daughter, June, in September.
Gus Kenworthy: Team Great Britain
Two-time Olympian Gus Kenworthy of Team Great Britain will compete in freestyle skiing. Gus Kenworthy publicly came out as gay in 2015. Kenworthy won a silver medal in Sochi in 2014 as a member of Team USA, and he will compete in the slopestyle and halfpipe events in Beijing.
Kim Meylemans: Team Belgium
Kim Meylemans will represent Belgium in skeleton at her second Olympics. In 2018, Meylemans became the first gay skeleton slider to represent Belgium at the Olympics.