LGBT figure skaters use Olympic platform to tell new stories: Their own

Eight years after just seven out LGBT athletes competed in any sport at the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014, some 35 members of the queer community are going for gold at Beijing 2022.

No out queer figure skater competed at the Games in 2014, and just four years after Adam Rippon and Eric Radford became the first at PyeongChang 2018, the sport will feature nine queer skaters - with Rippon watching rink side in Beijing as a coach.

"What brings me so much joy is to think of the representation of the queer community now versus just four years ago," Rippon told Olympics.com last month. "Growing up, I could never imagine seeing so many out and proud queer figure skaters. I think it's so incredible, and I'm so proud of the athletes who are competing in Beijing - as themselves."

The list, compiled by the LGBT sports site Outsports.com, includes French skater Guillaume Cizeron, a gold medal hope in ice dance, as well as U.S. pairs skater Timothy LeDuc, who is the first out non-binary athlete to compete at a Winter Games.

LeDuc is using their platform to help others understand what it means to be non-binary - particularly in a sport that has existed within it for so long.

"I've always felt that I didn't quite align with the expectations that were put on me - masculinity always felt forced, like something I had to do," LeDuc said last month after qualifying for the Games. "It never felt authentic to me. When I was finally given the tools and shown the examples that I can exist outside of that, it made sense - I felt whole. I thrive expressing myself in these ways."

They continued: "It's really challenging being in a gendered sport sometimes... but me and Ashley (Cain-Gribble, LeDuc's partner) get to just be ourselves and be two