First Openly Nonbinary Athlete to Compete at the Winter Olympics in Beijing

Even though there’s a U.S. diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Beijing Olympics, the LGBTQ+ community will be represented. American figure skater Timothy LeDuc is set to become the first openly nonbinary athlete to compete at an Olympic Winter Games.

On January 8, 2022, US Figure Skating announced that 31-year-old LeDuc has been paired with Ashley Cain-Gribble to compete in Beijing in February.

“My hope is that when people see my story, it isn’t focused on me and saying, ‘Oh, Timothy is the first out nonbinary person to achieve this level of success in sport,'” LeDuc said during a news conference, according to NBC Sports.

“My hope is that the narrative shifts more to, queer people can be open and successful in sports. We’ve always been here; we’ve always been a part of sports. We just haven’t always been able to be open,” said LeDuc.

In 2019, LeDuc became the first openly gay athlete to win gold in a US pairs’ event, according to the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee.

Cain-Gribble and LeDuc are the 2019 and 2022 US champions and will make their first Olympic appearance next month.

“I think we want to dedicate these performances and this title to all the people that felt like they didn’t belong — or were told that they didn’t belong — in this sport,” Cain-Gribble said during the news conference. “Many times we were told that, even when we teamed up.”

We’ll be cheering on LeDuc and Cain-Gribble, their teammates, and all the athletes set to take center stage for the games on February 4 to 20 in Beijing, the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.

Not going to the Winter Games? Get inspired and consider planning your own winter fun with a trip to one of these Gay Ski Weeks around the world.