Following fallout about Mike Pence's “derrière down" as a unified team of North and South Koreans passed at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics hosted by South Korea in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Pence went home and the Games got down to business.
11 hours or so ago, already February 12 in Pyeongchang, two American figure skaters, Mira Nagasu and Adam Rippon, wowed the crowds by performances that led to each taking a Bronze medal, the first medals for #TeamAmerica .
Nagasu, daughter of Japanese immigrants, landed a historic jump and became the first U.S. woman to land a triple axel in Olympic competition. She earned a score of 137.53 points — a new personal best, according to the U.S. Figure Skating Association.
Nagasu on the ice
Nagasu holds American citizenship. Her parents do not. Japanese law required her to relinquish her American-Japanese dual citizenship before her 22nd birthday, so she chose U.S. citizenship. She speaks a mixture of Japanese and English at home with her parents. Mirai (未来) means "future" in Japanese,while her last name is written as 長洲 in kanji.
28-year-old Adam Rippon - who became the first openly gay athlete to compete at the Winter Olympics– earned a score of 172.98 for his Olympic medal.
Adam Rippon after his medal winning performance today.
In January, Rippon made headlines by telling USA Today he would not agree to meet Pence, whose anti-LGBTQ positions are well-known. At that time, Rippon said this about his decision: "If it [the customary meet-and-greet between the delegates and Olympians as it would involve Pence] were before my event, I would absolutely not go out of my way to meet somebody who I felt has gone out of their way to not only show that they aren't a friend of a gay person but that they think that they're sick."
Today he told the Daily Mail he would NOT join Trump's White House party for Team USA. He would give Trump's gathering a miss in protest against what he sees as homophobia in Trump Admin leadership. He stated that his decision not to go would be ' to support my community.'
He added: 'No. I have no desire to go to the White House. But I would like to do something to help my community."
Nagasu and Rippon-Nagasu, the daughter of immigrants and Rippon, a gay man, win for #TeamAmerica.
America, meet Your Olympians.
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February 12, 2018
Post Script. An aside, Canadian skater Eric Radford, also an openly gay athlete, won the gold medal, making Radford the first openly gay athlete to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics. Russia took the silver.
