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Olympics: Gus Kenworthy and Boyfriend Share Kiss on NBC

7:17 PM PST 2/17/2018 by Katie Kilkenny

Ker Robertson/Getty Images
Gus Kenworthy

The slopestyle skier once planned to come out as gay with a televised kiss at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Four years has made a big difference for Gus Kenworthy, who on Saturday shared a casual kiss with boyfriend Matthew Wilkas on NBC before his qualifying run in slopestyle skiing at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang after he scrapped a plan to come out on live television at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Kenworthy has spoken about deciding last-minute not to come out at the end of his final run at Sochi, where he won a silver medal, by kissing his boyfriend on national television. "I let him [Kenworthy's boyfriend] fall into a little bit of an afterthought and I think it was a little bit selfish, but I just kind of kept the moment to myself," he told NBC in January. "I think in a lot of ways it would have been an amazing statement, but I also don't think I would have been ready at that point."

In 2014, Kenworthy had not yet told his parents or friends that he was gay. He eventually came out publicly in a 2015 ESPN Magazine cover story after he had told his inner circle.

Kenworthy is one of three openly gay American athletes at the Pyeongchang Olympics, a list that also includes speedskater Brittany Bowe and figure skater Adam Rippon.

On Saturday, Twitter users celebrated the televised kiss, with one user writing, "Gus Kenworthy, you're making so many LGBT Americans so very proud of you!!!" Another wrote, "That beautiful casual kiss between @guskenworthy and his boyfriend on @NBCOlympics — I’m old enough to understand how significant that is."

Watch Kenworthy's qualifying run on NBC's live stream here, and see the kiss in tweets below.

Feb. 17, 11:54 p.m. Updated with details on Kenworthy's 2014 final run at the Olympics.