Figure skater Kevin Aymoz brings a gay love story — and Lady Gaga — to the Olympics
The out and proud French skater will compete in his second Olympics in a program he choreographed himself. The post Figure skater Kevin Aymoz brings a gay love story — and Lady Gaga — to the Olympics appeared first on Outsports.
Mark
Name: Kevin Aymoz
Country: France
Sport: Men’s figure skating
Previous Olympic experience: Beijing 2022
Social Media: Instagram
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Who Is Kevin Aymoz?
French skater Kevin Aymoz has had a winding path to the 2026 Winter Olympics.
In his storied professional career, Aymoz had won four silver medals and three bronze at ISU Grand Prix tournaments, as well as many other top-10 placements. But gold had been elusive until November at the ISU Grand Prix Skate America competition in Lake Placid, N.Y., where he won the men’s competition for the first time, which was a crucial win ahead of the Olympics.
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Kevin Aymoz has been an out figure skater for years, trying to earn a major international win. At Stake America he got it.
“I have to skate for the people I love,” Aymoz, 28, said after his Lake Placid win. “So I skated for my family, my friends, my boyfriend. All the people who support me. And I hope this win gives hope to all those young skaters. With all the ups and downs, and they see downs, they can see one day it pays off.”
Similar to his figure skating career, his personal journey to coming out as gay has been building throughout his life.
Aymoz was part of six French athletes to come out for Pride Month in 2021 as part of a documentary called “We Need to Talk.” Aymoz said he had long heard that skating was a “fa**ot sport” and that knowing he was gay “haunted my days” while he was in the closet.
After the documentary was released, heading into the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, Aymoz reflected: “As I said to the directors, when I first came out, I put a bandage on a wound. But now, with this documentary, talking about it publicly and freeing myself gave me the opportunity to remove that bandage and to let that wound breathe. And there’s no wound anymore. It was over. It made me feel good.”
In an Instagram reel for Tetu Magazine this month, Aymoz told French drag performer Tabi Stone about the slurs he heard growing up about skaters being feminine and the anger he had in suppressing who he really was prior to coming out.
Kevin Aymoz at the Milan Winter Olympics
Aymoz will skate in the men’s competition starting Tuesday with the short program, performing to “Le Lac” by French-Canadian composer Jean-Michel Blais and “Judas” by Lady Gaga, the same program he used in the team skate on Saturday that won accolades, finishing fourth in the men’s event for Team France.
In announcing his short program prior to the season, of which he was the choreographer, Aymoz wrote: “A piano for my emotions, Lady Gaga to my rage. A program that talks about me, in fire, in fragility, in truth. I can’t wait to show you this program that I choreographed with love.”
“Judas” by Lady Gaga from 2011 is well-known, but the other selection by Aymoz is more obscure. “Le Lac” (“The Lake”) comes from the 2019 Canadian film “Matthias & Maxime,” a Canadian gay drama about longing, love and desire centered on a kiss between two men struggling with their sexuality at a lakeside cabin.
“I really wanted to bring back Judas by Lady Gaga because I’m the only guy who is doing Lady Gaga,” he said after his team skate. “Lady Gaga is amazing, so I had to do it for the fun. We are at the Olympics. I hope Lady Gaga is gonna see it.”
As for Aymoz’s chances, gay former Canadian elite skater and skating analyst Chad Conley told Outsports: “As much love I have for Kevin … he has has not kept up technically with the top-5 in the world. A medal will require a lot of mistakes from others. My hope for Kevin is he focuses on the experience more than the outcome as this will likely be his last Olympics.”
In Beijing in 2022, he finished 10th in the short program but soared to fourth in the free skate and finished seventh overall. Aymoz will skate 22nd out of 29 skaters on Tuesday, with the top 24 advancing to the free skate.
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The post Figure skater Kevin Aymoz brings a gay love story — and Lady Gaga — to the Olympics appeared first on Outsports.
