Olympic figure skater/America's Sweetheart/twink-for-life Adam Rippon has joined the 2018 squad in ESPN's annual Body Issue. Surprised? No. Excited? Fuck yeah.
In a short video, ESPN shared some insight on Rippon's shoot.
"I couldn’t have done this [shoot] while I was in the closet," People Magazine quoted the athlete telling ESPN. "I think that, with my experience of coming out, I felt so liberated in so many ways."
"I don’t want to say I’ll never be in this shape again, but I’ll never be in this shape. I’ll be in another shape," he said. "This is a milestone of all the work it took me to get to the point to be an Olympic medal-winning figure skater."
So what makes the shape-shifting Rippon such a great candidate to feature in this year's issue? For one, his athletic ability. He's like a male Tanya Harding without all the white trash and police batons. He's not only a fantastic skater, but he's got the perfect attitude on the ice to go with it. He's also not afraid to speak his mind regarding current political events. He's best known for calling out Vice President Mike Pence on his stance toward gay rights. Still, Rippon manages to stay in everyone's good graces, whether they agree with him or not.
Of course one of the main reasons to put someone like Adam Rippon in an issue like this is very clear: that body-ody-ody.