Kévin Aymoz is acrobatic. The out French Olympian recently dazzled judges at this year’s European Championships with his jaw-dropping twirls and incredible finish. At the end of his set, the free skater fell to the ice, and let out his elation.
It’s one of the most adorable celebrations you’ll ever see. Aymoz placed fourth overall in the free skate competition.
“I’m not crying! You’re crying!”
"The skate of his life is happening!"
Kevin Aymoz goes into the lead, and how about this wholesome celebration with his coach ???
Aymoz, 25, made his Olympic debut last winter, battling through a significant amount of adversity along the way. The five-time French national champion had his summer wiped out due to a groin injury, and then suffered a toe injury that set him back that fall. Ouch!
“It was difficult to get past,” he said in an interview with Olympic.com. “At the start of my training camp, I had to learn a million things again in a short space of time.”
Nevertheless, Aymoz made it to Beijing, representing France with aplomb. He placed 10th in the figure skating short program.
Aymoz was also on the Olympic stage as an out and proud gay man, making him one of at least 36 out athletes at the Games. He was one of six French athletes who publicly came out in a special Pride Month documentary, “We Need to Talk.”
Aymoz said the experience liberated him both personally and on the ice.
“When I first came out, I had put a bandage on a wound,” he said. “But now with this documentary, talking about it publicly and freeing myself gave me the opportunity to remove the bandage and let the wound breathe. And there’s no wound anymore. It was over. It made me feel good.”
It’s difficult for us to breathe after scrolling through Aymoz’s Instagram. His grid is filled with adorable shots, with one of our favorites, fellow Olympic thirst trap Eric Radford, appropriately commenting with some fire emojis on the pictures that capture Aymoz’s most recent championship set.
The sheer joy that Aymoz exudes on the ice is infectious, and shows all of the good things about sports. Sure, there’s a lot of toxic masculinity and homophobia, especially at the elite male level. But at their core, sports and competition are about athletes reaching peak performance, and sharing their exhilaration with the world.
We’re lucky that Aymoz elects to share his personal and athletic highlights on his active Instagram page. Scroll down for some more shots of this fun-loving cutie…
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