Gus Kenworthy

Gus Kenworthy
Personal information
Born (1991-10-01) October 1, 1991
Chelmsford, Essex, United Kingdom[1]
Height 178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 75 kg (165 lb)
Website www.guskenworthy.com

Augustus Richard "Gus" Kenworthy (born October 1, 1991) is a British-born American freestyle skier from Telluride, Colorado who competes in slopestyle and the halfpipe. Kenworthy won the silver medal in Men's freestyle skiing at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.[3]

Early life and education

Kenworthy is the youngest of three sons of an English mother and an American father, Pip and Peter Kenworthy.[4][5] He has two older brothers, Hugh and Nick Kenworthy.[6]

Kenworthy's father, Peter, has been the executive director of the Mountainfilm film festival in Telluride, since 2006.[7][8] He is a former banker from Philadelphia, who worked in London (UK) for several years. Kenworthy's mother, Pip, is English and originally from Bristol, England. She was born into a large family, with eight siblings. After moving to London in the early 1970s, she began working backstage in costumes, at the Kings Head Theatre Club. She also ran a vintage booth at the Camden Lock Market.[5] She emigrated with her then husband, Peter, and her sons, including then two-year-old Gus, to Telluride, in 1993.[5]

Kenworthy graduated from Telluride High School in June 2010.[6] He could have graduated in 2009, but decided instead to take a year off to ski.[9]

Career

Kenworthy won AFP World Championships overall titles in 2011, 2012, and 2013.[10][11][12][13] In 2014, he placed second at the Olympics in Sochi, Russia and won his first medal, a bronze, at the X Games in Tignes, France in the slopestyle event.[14]

He won the World Cup Men's Halfpipe in Park City, UT[15] in 2015 and again in 2016 in Mammoth, CA, and finished second in 2017.[16][17] He finished third in the Men's Slopestyle during the 2017 World Cup in Silvaplana, Switzerland.[18]

Media attention

Kenworthy gained international media attention as a result of his former boyfriend, Robin Macdonald, texting him a photo of five stray dogs—four puppies and their mother—during their stay in Sochi, at the 2014 Winter Olympics. He stayed behind for more than a month to save the family of dogs, and others, while he fought to bring them back home.[19][20] Their adoption of these dogs helped bring further attention to the problematic rise of the stray dog population in Sochi, which grew significantly during the Olympics.[20]

Personal life

In October 2015, Kenworthy came out as gay.[21][22] Rolling Stone noted the "freestyle medalist is the first action-sports star to come out."[23]

References

  1. "Gus Kenworthy". sochi2014.com. Organizing Committee of the XXII Olympic Winter Games. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
  2. "ESPN X Games profile for Gus Kenworthy". Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  3. "Gus KENWORTHY | Freestyle Skiing | United States – Sochi 2014 Olympics". m.sochi2014.com. Retrieved 2014-02-10.
  4. Klingsporn, Katie (February 12, 2014). "Go, Gus!". Telluride Daily Planet. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 Viebrock, Susan (February 3, 2011). "Fashion Friday: Pip on what to wear to the Fling (Interview with Pip Kenworthy)". Telluride Inside... and Out. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  6. 1 2 "Kenworthy Grabs Silver in U.S. Podium Sweep". Watch Newspapers (Western San Juan Mountains newspaper, serving Telluride). February 13, 2014. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  7. "First Ever Double Flip Off Of A Rail – Yeah Gus!". Mountainfilm Blog. July 14, 2011. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  8. "Profile of Peter Kenworthy". Mountainfilm. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  9. Hemphill, Steve (June 9, 2010). "Q&A Wednesday with Gus Kenworthy". Freeskier Magazine. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  10. "Kenworthy Keeps Overall Title at AFP Worlds". US Freeskiing. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  11. Michelson, Megan. "AFP Champs: Big Air". Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  12. Hansman, Heather. "KENWORTHY, VOISIN WIN AFP SLOPESTYLE". ESPN X Games. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  13. "US Freeskiing's profile on Gus Kenworthy". US Freeskiing. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  14. "Atomic Skis' profile on Gus Kenworthy". Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  15. "World Cup - Men's Halfpipe 28.02.2015". data.fis-ski.com. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  16. "World Cup - Men's Halfpipe 23.01.2016". data.fis-ski.com. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  17. "World Cup - Men's Halfpipe 04.02.2017". data.fis-ski.com. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  18. "World Cup - Men's Slopestyle 03.03.2017". data.fis-ski.com. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  19. Rachel Axon and Lindsay Jones. "U.S. Olympian is doing his best to adopt all the stray puppies in Sochi". USA Today. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  20. 1 2 "U.S. freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy adopting stray Sochi puppies". Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  21. @guskenworthy (October 22, 2015). "Twitter". Retrieved October 22, 2015.
  22. Roenigk, Alyssa (October 22, 2015). "Olympic freeskier Gus Kenworthy's next bold move -- coming out". Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  23. Browne, David. "Hot Rebel Skier Gus Kenworthy". Rolling Stone (December 2015). Rolling Stone.
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