Gus Kenworthy Is Heading to the Beijing Winter Olympics for Team Great Britain
Gus Kenworthy is officially heading to Beijing to compete in the 2022 Olympic Winter Games for team Great Britain. He’ll be vying for the gold in the men’s freestyle halfpipe event.
This event will mark Kenworthy’s third time competing in the Winter Games; however, in 2014 and 2018 he was representing Team USA.
The skier first announced the change in teams in 2019 as a way to honor his mother (Kenworthy was born in Essex, England to an English mother and an American father).“Although I was raised in the US I was born in the UK and my mum is British through-and-through.
She has been my #1 fan for my entire life and has proudly stood at the bottom of the mountain waving the stars and stripes in support of me for two Olympic cycles,” he wrote on Instagram at the time, adding that these Games would likely mark his retirement as well. “Now, in what is sure to be my last Olympic appearance, I’d like to return the honour by proudly holding up the British flag for her.”Kenworthy will be joining a “record number” of out LGBTQ+ athletes at the Beijing Games.
