Last night, figure skater Adam Rippon cemented his status as America’s sweetheart, both with an incredible performance on the ice and one of the most quotable post-show interviews in sports history. “Andrea, it’s, like … pretty awesome,” Rippon said, when interviewer Andrea Joyce asked how he was enjoying the Games. “I highly recommend it. If you ever have the option, come to the Olympics — it’s, like, a fun time.” Amen, Adam! But, as Rippon himself put it, this may be his first Olympics, but it’s “not his first rodeo.” Whether it’s waxing lyrical about his eyebrows on Twitter or shading Mike Pence with devastating precision, Rippon has long been one of the best interviews in sports. Here are some other bon mots from the funny, outspoken Olympian:
On what goes through his mind when he’s on the ice:
“I want to throw up. I want to go over to the judges and say, ‘Can I just have a Xanax and a quick drink?’ I’ll be fine. And I kept it together.”
On having an unremarkable name:
On being a ‘gay athlete’:
By the way, about those brows:
And let’s not forget his excellent butt:
After winning his 2016 national title:
“I’m like a witch, and you can’t kill me! I keep coming back every year, and every year I get better.”
On his Zen approach to life:
“I would say that I’m a hot mess all the time. I usually finish things in the last second. But I think, as I’ve gotten older, I don’t worry about it and I just rock it. If I forgot to put something on and I have to wear a trash bag, I’m just like, I’m gonna rock a trash bag today. I’m really go-with-the-flow, but I take things really seriously. At the same time, when things don’t go my way, I don’t ever freak out. Why? Why freak out?”
Some tips for his judges:
On growing up:
On past loves:
On his impressive Olympics T-shirt collection:
“One of the people I skate with every day just said to me, ‘You wear a different Olympics T-shirt every day.’ Which is true! But I was like, ‘Bitch, I’ve been collecting these for the past eight years. In the two weeks before I actually get to go to the Olympics, I’m wearing every fucking T-shirt I’ve ever gotten in my entire life that has the Olympic rings on it.’”
On how Donald Trump gets his heart rate up:
“Sometimes I’ll be listening to NPR at the gym, and I’ll hear them say, ‘Oh, Donald Trump did this today.’ And I’m like, ‘WHAT?!’ All of a sudden I have more energy than if I drank an espresso.”
On his dental hygiene:
“There are so many emotions when I step on the ice. I want to represent my country to the best of my abilities. I want to make Reese Witherspoon proud.”
On his love of crystals:
On serving looks:
On Mike Pence:
“If it 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. I wouldn’t go out of my way to meet somebody like that … I don’t think he has a real concept of reality. To stand by some of the things that Donald Trump has said and for Mike Pence to say he’s a devout Christian man is completely contradictory. If he’s okay with what’s being said about people and Americans and foreigners and about different countries that are being called ‘shitholes,’ I think he should really go to church.”
… and what he would say to Mike Pence if they were to meet:
“Here’s the thing: I have nothing to say to him. I’m very lucky that Mike Pence has had little to no effect on my life. If we were to meet, I would want to bring people whose lives have been changed by legislation he has pushed. As a member of the LGBT community, I want to speak out, because he’s spoken about people like me. If the opportunity arises later for me to have a conversation with him, it’s not for me. It’s for the people who have real stories to tell about why they need to be heard, and why they deserve to be treated as equal American citizens, just like any other person.”
Go off, Adam!
