spotlight


CAPTURING OLYMPIC PRIDE


ERIC RADFORD HIS PATHWAY


TO THE PODIUM by joel martens


It’s no small feat to fight your way to the top of the sports game, it’s even


rarer to complete the journey to the pinnacle that is the world’s Olympic Games. The only pathway to achieving such heights include years of unwavering commitment, arduous, focused work both physically and emotionally, and a great deal of financial support. Even then, many who achieve competence in their sport don’t make “the cut” to the elite roster of competitors sent to represent their chosen fields and country. Winning an Olympic medal may not be completely new to the sports


world, we get to witness that remarkable feat every four years during both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. We have also enjoyed over the years, many Olympians who were there representing the LGBTQ com- munity. Yet, the number who have done so, competing while completely out of the closet, has been until recently, a fairly rare occurrence. There have been many who came out after their specific games, but it


was Matthew Mitcham, who won gold as an diver in 2008, who earned the distinction of being the first openly gay Olympic medalist…or so we thought. It turns out Mitcham was the first gold medalist, fellow Australian, Matthew Helm, a silver medalist in the same category, had announced he was gay before the 2004 Summer Games in which he won. Deep-seeded, homophobia still haunts the sports world and in fact it permeated the 2012 Sochi Winter Games, when a Russian court blocked the establishment of a Pride House because it “contradicted public morality.” But, in spite of the challenges out athletes have faced on the world stage, many participate in the modern Olympic Games and they have chosen to do so out and proud. The 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea was a stellar


year for the LGBTQ community: 16 out athletes, twelve women and four men participated. Notable also, because 2018 marked the first time in the history of the Winter Olympics that male athletes competed who were openly gay. It’s a distinction that forever belongs to Canadian figure skater, Eric Radford who ended up being the first to win a Winter Olympic gold medal, a fact he later found out via his Twitter page. Radford agreed to an interview withThe Rage Monthly and we are beyond excited to have him as a part of our cadre:


ERIC RADFORD CANADA’S GOLDEN BOY


Radford shared what it took for him to get to the Olympics,


what it was like to come to terms with his sexuality and his experiences before and since winning gold.


I read somewhere that you wanted to be a pilot as a kid? How did you get from there to becoming a champion figureskater? That’s a great question. I was obsessed with flying as a kid,


which is why I wanted to be a pilot. When I saw figure skating on TV it reminded me of flying and I was instantly attracted to it. I started imitating the moves I saw the skaters doing on TV. I would jump and try to turn as many times I could in my living room. Finally, I told my mom “I want to learn to do that” and she put me into skating lessons. Who were your biggest influences growing up? There were two Canadian figure skaters I loved growing up,


Kurt Browning and Elvis Stojko. They were both incredible athletes in very different ways. I’ve been fortunate enough to tour with both of them over the last few years. You’re growing up in small town Ontario reminded me so much of being a kid in Northern Wisconsin. How early did you realize that you might be “different?” Looking back, I can see I was different from the beginning. I


was very sensitive and liked different things than the other boys. I also remember feeling claustrophobic in my little town. Like Ariel inThe Little Mermaid, I always thought there must be more to the world. Can you talk about the journey from figuring it out to when you decided to tell someone? I feel like it took me quite a while to truly except my own sexuality. I started to have an inkling when I was 13 but didn’t really accept it until I was 16. I had convinced myself I was the only one in the world having these feelings. I moved to Montreal when I was 16 and met Paul Wirtz, my former coach. He was the first gay person I met in real life and being around him made me realize that my sexuality was nothing to be afraid of. Who was your first person? What was that experience like? The first person I came out to was one of my best girlfriends


at the time. It took me almost six hours! The weight of knowing that as soon as I said those three words everything would change for the rest of time, that she would see me in a different way and I could never go back, scared me.


20


RAGE monthly | APRIL 2018


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