It’s smart to walk away from the table when you’re up in chips. One Olympic gold and one Olympic bronze certainly sounds like “up” to us.
Still, it’s bittersweet that Eric Radford, the first openly gay man to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics, is hanging up his skates for good after the 2018 Games.
The handsome 33-year-old Canadian won gold in team figure skating with his partner Meagan Duhamel, and the two went on to win the bronze in free skating.
That meant he also became the first openly gay man to win multiple Olympic medals.
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And as if that wasn’t enough Olympic history made, the skating duo also became the first to successfully land a throw quad salchow at an Olympic event.
Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford pull off the FIRST EVER (clean) throw quad salchow at an #OlympicGames.#Olympics #TeamCanada pic.twitter.com/WF1WKDVYqt
— Drew (@Nmyexperience) February 15, 2018
That incredibly challenging component came while they skated to Adele’s “Hometown Glory,” and the crowd… went… wild.
“He nearly tossed her to the roof of the arena on a quad twist,” Dan Barnes wrote in Canada’s National Post, “and almost over the boards on a throw triple Salchow.”
“We don’t ever have to do a quad throw again,” Duhamel said. “We landed the last quad we tried. That makes me happy.”
“We saved the best for last,” Radford added.
I don’t know how today will end but it feels good to know that maybe, I’ve already made a difference. It’s been fun dreaming my wildest dreams and having so many of them come true. Thank you for all of the support.
Now…time for a little more #HometownGlory— Eric Radford (@Rad85E) February 14, 2018
“It’s the sweetest [ending] it could possibly be right now,” Radford said. “I don’t think that there’s any better way.”
So proud that @Adaripp and I get to wear these medals and show the world what we can do! #represent???? #olympics #pyeongchang2018 #pride #outandproud #medalists #TeamNorthAmerica pic.twitter.com/eXMlZ2Utrw
— Eric Radford (@Rad85E) February 12, 2018
Here’s a look back at Radford’s 2018 Olympic experience:
Daniel-Reader
Their extraordinary performance was wonderful to watch.
alanballs
Beautiful, and congratulations….Eric is enormously tall, especially compared to his partner, Meagan.
nephilim
As a side note, his boyfriend, Luis Fenero, is also competing in the Olympics.
in Ice skating, for Spain.
fur_hunter
Eric is a very handsome young man with a fantastic smile. I have a feeling folks will see him in commercials and other things. He may retire from Olympic skating but he will not disappear from the limelight. I wish him much success and happiness in the future.