American figure skater Adam Rippon, whose butt is real and whose whole vibe is spectacular, made his Olympic debut at age 28 last night. He’s a star now.
Rippon skated in the men’s free skate portion of the team competition, and his score helped the American team earn a bronze medal. Rippon’s skate was not the most technically challenging—he didn’t attempt any quad jumps, which is how he scored worse than two opponents who fell but did attempt quads—but it was masterfully executed. Rippon skated a clean, near-perfect program, and did so with the kind of spirit and swagger that can elevate a skate from mere performance to event.
If any skater was ever born for the Olympic spotlight, it’s Rippon. He gave a few post-skate interviews, and in each of them turned the charm factor up to 11. Here he is recommending becoming an Olympic athlete to everyone at home:
Here he is saying that his goal is to make Reese Witherspoon proud (she’s a fan):
And here he is telling Mike Tirico that before he skated he really wanted to ask the judges for a Xanax and a drink:
Rippon still has a lot more to do at these Olympics—he’ll be competing in the individual men’s event later this week, which gives you plenty of time to spend the day falling down an Adam Rippon rabbit hole. You’ll find plenty to enjoy, like this tweet, and also this tweet, and this anecdote about him wanting to skate to his own cover of a Rihanna song, and the controversy over his big butt, and our profile of him from last month, and the way he owned Mike Pence. This is his show now, so get to know him.