Gay skater Kevin Aymoz performs with pure heart at the Olympics — and it’s beautiful to watch

French figure skater Kevin Aymoz absolutely blew me away in the Winter Olympics men’s short program on Tuesday.

Honestly, there are very few skaters I could watch for hours, but he’s definitely one of them — especially when he’s on fire. Aymoz, the only out gay male singles skater in Milan, was the biggest surprise of the event for me, one dominated by American Ilia Malinin. As I was providing analysis for the men for a Canadian streaming service, I noticed how much more confident he looked on the ice.

What amazed me was that he completely changed the jumping order of his short program, performed to “Le Lac” by French-Canadian composer Jean-Michel Blais and “Judas” by Lady Gaga. I could tell because I had called his performance in the team event.

Most skaters sticking to their usual elements would probably struggle with that change, and it might have hurt their routine. But Aymoz, with all his experience, knew he had to do it his way to have any chance of making the top 10.

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Sitting in seventh place heading into Friday’s long skate means he probably won’t medal, but I don’t think that’s what this Olympics is about for him. At 28, it feels like this might be Aymoz’s last shot at the Olympics, and he really deserves all the praise for that performance — especially after what happened at the European Championships last month when he fell on all his jumps in the short program and didn’t qualify for the long program.

I’m optimistic for the long program, where he will skate to Bolero, M. 81 by Maurice Ravel. I think he’ll put his love for figure skating front and center. If he does that, I believe he’ll leave the ice having made a true impact, regardless of where he places.

Aymoz is a joy to watch, and he’s shown us all what it means to skate with heart.

Chad Conley is a former elite Canadian skater who is analyzing the Winter Olympics for a streaming service in Canada. He came out as gay in 2002.

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