Gus Kenworthy

Gus Kenworthy
Gus Kenworthy in 2018
Personal information
Birth name Augustus Richard Kenworthy
Nationality British, American
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 guskenworthy.com
YouTube information
Channel
Years active 2007–present
Subscribers 50,375
(June 3, 2018)
Total views 4.9 million
(June 3, 2018)
Subscriber and view counts updated as of June 3, 2018.

Augustus Richard "Gus" Kenworthy (born October 1, 1991) is a British-born American freestyle skier from Telluride, Colorado, who competes in slopestyle, halfpipe and big air. Kenworthy won the silver medal in Men's slopestyle at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.[3] Kenworthy again represented the United States in slopestyle at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, where he qualified for the final and finished in 12th place.

Early life and education

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

Kenworthy's father 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 is 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, Utah,[15] in 2015 and again in 2016 in Mammoth, California, and finished second in 2017.[16][17] He finished third in the Men's Slopestyle during the 2017 World Cup in Silvaplana, Switzerland.[18]

Personal life

In October 2015, Kenworthy publicly came out as gay in an interview with ESPN.[19] He said in a later interview with Attitude magazine that he picked to come out in ESPN because "I wanted to do it in my words and once and for all – and hopefully help kids that are in the same position I was."[20] Rolling Stone noted the "freestyle medalist is the first action-sports star to come out."[21][22]

He was in a relationship with Robin Macdonald who was also involved in the ski industry, working in film and photography.[23] The couple gained international media attention as a result of Macdonald, texting him a photo of five stray dogs—four puppies and their mother—during their stay in Sochi, at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Kenworthy stayed behind for more than a month to save the family of dogs, and others, while he fought to bring them back home.[24][25] 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.[25] The two eventually broke up after a five-year relationship.[23]

Since November 2015, he has been in a relationship with American theatre and film actor and reality television personality Matthew Wilkas.[23] At the 2018 Winter Olympics, in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Wilkas kissed Kenworthy before his qualifying run in the men's slopestyle; the kiss was broadcast on live television and was lauded as being a significant moment in visibility of LGBT+ athletes.[26][27]

In 2017, Kenworthy was a cast member on the MTV series The Challenge: Champs vs. Pros, which featured former competitors as well as professional athletes.[28] In 2018, Gus Kenworthy was featured on the Head & Shoulders campaign, "Shoulders of Greatness".[29]

See also

References

  1. "Gus Kenworthy". sochi2014.com. Organizing Committee of the XXII Olympic Winter Games. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  2. "ESPN X Games profile for Gus Kenworthy". Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  3. "Gus KENWORTHY | Freestyle Skiing | United States – Sochi 2014 Olympics". m.sochi2014.com. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  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. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. 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 February 14, 2014.
  11. Michelson, Megan. "AFP Champs: Big Air". Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  12. Hansman, Heather. "KENWORTHY, VOISIN WIN AFP SLOPESTYLE". ESPN X Games. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  13. "US Freeskiing's profile on Gus Kenworthy". US Freeskiing. Archived from the original on February 13, 2014. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  14. "Atomic Skis' profile on Gus Kenworthy". Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  15. "World Cup - Men's Halfpipe 28.02.2015". data.fis-ski.com. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  16. "World Cup - Men's Halfpipe 23.01.2016". data.fis-ski.com. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  17. "World Cup - Men's Halfpipe 04.02.2017". data.fis-ski.com. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  18. "World Cup - Men's Slopestyle 03.03.2017". data.fis-ski.com. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  19. Roenigk, Alyssa (October 22, 2015). "Olympic freeskier Gus Kenworthy's next bold move — coming out". ESPN. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  20. Stroude, Will (November 12, 2015). "Gus Kenworthy talks about Sochi, first sexual experiences and becoming a gay role model". Attitude. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
  21. Browne, David. "Hot Rebel Skier Gus Kenworthy". Rolling Stone (December 2015). |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  22. @guskenworthy (October 22, 2015). "Twitter". Retrieved October 22, 2015.
  23. 1 2 3 Hicklin, Aaron (December 29, 2016). "The Love Portfolio: Gus Kenworthy + Matt Wilkas". Out.com. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
  24. Rachel Axon; Lindsay Jones. "U.S. Olympian is doing his best to adopt all the stray puppies in Sochi". USA Today. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  25. 1 2 "U.S. freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy adopting stray Sochi puppies". CBS News. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  26. Reilly, Katie (February 17, 2018). "Gus Kenworthy and His Boyfriend Kissed on TV at the Olympics and Fans Are Ecstatic". Time. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  27. Gregory, Sean (February 18, 2018). "Gus Kenworthy's Boyfriend Matthew Wilkas on the Meaning of Their Historic Olympics Kiss". Time. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  28. "The Challenge: Champs Vs. Pros TV Series Cast Members | MTV". MTV. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  29. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180119005444/en/Head-Shoulders-Announces-U.S.-Freeskier-Gus-Kenworthy
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