Figure Skater Timothy Leduc Becomes 1st Out Nonbinary Athlete in Winter Olympics

American figure skater Timothy LeDuc made Olympic history on Friday during the pairs figure skating competition. 

LeDuc became the first publicly out nonbinary athlete to compete at the Winter Games:

LeDuc and their partner, Ashley Cain-Gribble, finished seventh with a score of 74.13 in the short program. 

"I know for me, being openly nonbinary is only possible because amazing queer people have come before me and laid the groundwork for me," LeDuc told reporters after Friday's event. "So now I want to do that for others to come after, as well."

Per OutSports.com, there are at least 36 publicly out gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, pansexual and nonbinary athletes competing in the Beijing Games. 

LeDuc came out as gay when they were 18. The Iowa native spoke publicly about identifying as nonbinary for the first time in 2021. 

LeDuc and Cain-Gribble have been partners on the ice since 2016. The pair qualified for the Olympics in January by winning gold at the United States Championships. 

Quinn became the first openly nonbinary and transgender athlete to medal at the Olympics in 2021. They won gold as part of the Canadian women's soccer team at the 2020 Games in Tokyo. 

LeDuc will have an opportunity to medal in Beijing. They and Cain-Gribble will wrap up the 2022 Olympics with the pairs free skate on Saturday starting at 6 a.m. ET.