American Paralympic skier Jake Adikoff made history as the first openly gay Winter Paralympic gold medalist, but he has since gone further, winning three more gold medals in multiple events.
Adikov has no vision in his right eye and limited vision in his left eye because of chickenpox he contracted in utero. The Sun Valley, Idaho native reportedly started alpine skiing at the age of 5, but when his parents realized alpine skiing wasn’t for him, they steered him toward cross-country skiing. Associated Press.
On March 10, he won the first individual Paralympic gold medal in the visually impaired sprint classic race, becoming the first gay male athlete to win a gold medal at the quadrennial Games for Disabled Athletes.
Adikov followed up that performance by winning the visually impaired men’s 10-kilometer and 20-kilometer races, anchoring the mixed 4-kilometer x 2.5-kilometer relay, and winning three more gold medals.
He is believed to be one of five openly gay athletes representing the United States at this year’s Paralympic Games in Milan-Cortina. He has not competed in previous Paralympic events, winning silver in the men’s 10km race at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, and two silver medals in the 20km and sprint events, as well as a gold medal in the relay at the 2022 Beijing Games.
At each race, Adikov celebrated by taking a bow as he crossed the finish line. After America’s relay victory, teammate Oksana Masters tackled him in celebration.
“At first it was a hug, then she hugged me with all her weight, and suddenly I fell to the ground,” Adikov told The Associated Press. “She gets carried away. She has a lot of passion. She takes that to the race course and to the celebration afterwards.”
Adikov set a goal of winning four gold medals in Milan-Cortina four years ago after the Beijing Paralympics, a goal he admitted was “incredibly scary” to say out loud.
“I had a lot of doubts this week. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but the race went well and I’m just happy,” he told reporters after the 20-kilometre race in the final event, where he crashed twice.
Adikov fell early During the race, my ski pole hit my binding and I fell to my knees. He crashed again on the final lap, but built up a lead long enough to hold off the late momentum of Ukraine’s Oleksandr Kazyk, reducing the gap from 30 seconds to seven seconds.
Adikoff also welcomes being part of what OutSport calls “Team LGBTQ,” and said before the Games that he wanted to represent the community as an openly gay athlete in elite parasport.
He values that visibility and even jokes about it on social media. Instagram Her bio reads, “Just trying to be healthy enough for my dad to notice me,” which is flanked by rainbow pride flag emojis.
“The higher up you get in a sport, the fewer out people you meet. I think it’s really important for me to compete in the Paralympics and show there, as a gay athlete, that it’s possible to reach the upper echelons of the sport both as an out athlete and as a para athlete,” he said. out sports.
He added that he is inspired by Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy and wants to be a role model for future LGBTQ para-athletes.
“If we can change the mindset of another 14-year-old growing up who is going through a similar experience, not knowing where sport is going to take them, not understanding the impact sport has on their life, then that’s a success,” he said.
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
