Adam Rippon
American figure skater Adam Rippon was born in Scranton, Pa., the eldest of six. He first began skating at the age of 10, when his mother took him along to the rink while she skated. He competed at the novice level beginning in the 2004-05 season, winning a silver at the U.S. National Championships. By 2008 Rippon had moved up to senior level competitions, signing on with coach and former Olympic skater Brian Orser in December of that year. He placed seventh at the 2009 U.S. Championships and was named to the team for the 2009 Junior World Championships, where he became the first single skater to claim two World Junior titles. He was named as an alternate to the teams for the 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2010 World Championships. At the 2011 Skate Canada he won fourth place, and marked his first attempt at including a quad jump in his free program. At the 2012 Cup of China, he finished fourth, and at the 2013 U.S. Championships, he wound up in fifth place. A 2013 performance at Skate America landed him the silver. At the 2016 U.S. Championships he took gold. An ankle sprain in early 2017 forced him to withdraw from the 2017 U.S. Championships, but he began the 2017-18 season with a bronze at the CS Finlandia Trophy, and garnered silver medals at both of his two Grand Prix events. He made headlines in 2015 when he revealed to Skate magazine that he is homosexual, and still more headlines in January 2018 when he was selected to represent the U.S. at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, making him the first openly gay athlete to qualify for the Olympics and one of the oldest figure skaters to compete in more than 80 years. Shortly thereafter he made the news again, this time for a social media spat with Vice President Mike Pence after he called out the politician on his stance on gay rights in an interview with USA Today. Once in PyeongChang, Rippon also helped to lead the U.S. team to a bronze medal win in the team figure skating competition, thanks to a spectacular routine that many, including comentators Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski, believed to be among the best performances of his career to date. In April 2018, it was announced that Rippon would be joining the cast of Season 26 of "Dancing with the Stars" (ABC, 2005-) as part of a special all-athlete competition.