Out Gay Paralympian Jake Adicoff Wins Four Gold Medals
The Team USA skier becomes the first out gay male Winter Paralympic champion and caps a dominant run at the Milan Cortina Games.
Jake Adicoff, an American Paralympic skier, made history as the first out gay Winter Paralympic gold medalist — then went even further, winning three additional gold medals across multiple events.
Adicoff has no vision in his right eye and limited vision in his left after contracting chickenpox in utero. The Sun Valley, Idaho, native began Alpine skiing at age five, but his parents steered him toward cross-country skiing after realizing Alpine wasn’t the right fit, reports The Associated Press.
He captured his first individual Paralympic gold medal in the visually impaired sprint classic race on March 10, becoming the first out gay male athlete to win gold at the quadrennial competition for athletes with disabilities.
Adicoff followed that performance with three more golds — winning the visually impaired men’s 10-kilometer and 20-kilometer races, and anchoring the mixed 4-by-2.5-kilometer relay.
He is believed to be one of five openly gay athletes representing the United States at this year’s Paralympics in Milan Cortina. He was not out during his previous Paralympic appearances, where he earned a silver medal in the men’s 10-kilometer race in PyeongChang in 2018, and two silvers in the 20-kilometer and sprint events, along with a relay gold, at the 2022 Beijing Games.
In each race, Adicoff celebrated with a bow as he crossed the finish line. After anchoring the U.S. relay victory, teammate Oksana Masters tackled him in celebration.
“It was initially a hug, and then she kind of put all her weight into it, and then all of a sudden I was on the ground,” Adicoff told the AP. “She goes crazy, she’s got a lot of passion. She takes that to the race course and to the celebrations afterwards.”
Adicoff set a goal four years ago — after the Beijing Paralympics — of winning four gold medals in Milan Cortina, a target he admitted was “incredibly scary” to say out loud.
“I was doubting it so much this week. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but the races came together and I’m just overjoyed,” he told reporters after his final event, the 20-kilometer race, where he fell twice.
Adicoff fell early in the race when his ski pole hit his binding, sending him to his knees. He fell again on the final lap but had built enough of a lead to hold off a late surge from Ukraine’s Oleksandr Kazik, who cut the gap from 30 seconds to seven.
Adicoff has also embraced being part of what Outsports dubs “Team LGBTQ,” saying before the Games that he wanted to represent the community as an openly gay athlete in elite para-sport.
He has leaned into that visibility — even joking about it on social media, where his Instagram bio reads, “Just trying to be fit enough that your dad notices me,” flanked by rainbow Pride flag emojis.
“The higher you get in sport, the less out people that you see, and I think going to the Paralympics, being a gay athlete there, showing that it’s possible to reach this upper echelon of sport as an out athlete and as a para athlete, that’s super important to me,” he told Outsports.
He added that he drew inspiration from out Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy and hopes to serve as a role model for future LGBTQ para-athletes.
“If I can change that mindset for one other 14-year-old growing up who’s having that similar experience, not knowing where sport can take them and not understanding the impact that it can have on your life, then that’s a success,” he said.
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