Adam Rippon Wins Bronze In First Event

Adam Rippon made history Monday when he won a bronze medal for his first performance.
The first openly gay American to compete in the Winter Olympics has softened his approach to US Vice President Mike Pence.
Ice skater Adam Rippon said he would refuse to meet President Trump’s VP, who is leading the US delegation in South Korea, due to his opposition to LGBT rights. 

Responding to the announcement that Pence was to lead the delegation on USA Today, Rippon said: “You mean Mike Pence, the same Mike Pence that funded gay conversion therapy? I’m not buying it.”
“I don’t think he has a real concept of reality,” Rippon said of Pence.

“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.”
But after pumping the air in exhilaration following his free skate in the figure skating team event Rippon appeared to change his mind.
“Yes of course,” he said, when asked by AFP if he would accept a meeting with Pence.
Rippon made history when he took a bronze medal for Team USA at the Winter Olympics on Monday morning after giving a spectacular debut performance.
Skating to Coldplay’s “O” and “Arrival of the Birds” by Cinematic Orchestra, Rippon was awarded a score of 172.98, giving the team an extra eight points.
Canadian skater Eric Radford took gold, followed by Russia who took silver.
Radford, who is also an out gay skater, will compete again in the pairs tournament while Rippon will perform another men’s single.
Speaking after his performance, Rippon said:“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.’ But I kept it together.”
Rippon said that if he were offered the chance to meet the VP after performing, he could be interested to talk – but only if Pence had an open mind.
“If I had the chance to meet him afterwards, after I’m finished competing, there might be a possibility to have an open conversation,” Rippon said.
“He seems more mild-mannered than Donald Trump. But I don’t think the current administration represents the values that I was taught growing up.
“Mike Pence doesn’t stand for anything that I really believe in.”