I want to inspire other young kids, no matter what their background is or where they're from or anything like that, that they can go out there and, if you work hard, you can do anything.
First and foremost, I'm an athlete. And I'm an Olympian. I'm not a gay Olympian. I'm just an Olympian that's also gay. I don't mind reading that - like, 'gay Olympian Adam Rippon.' It's fine. I hope that, in a way, it makes it easier for other young kids who are gay. If they go to the Olympics, they can just be called Olympians.
It's totally crazy! I can't believe all the young kids doing it in competition now. It's pretty unbelievable to have an element variation named after me.
I've gotten so many messages I could even get emotional thinking about it, but I've gotten so many messages from young kids all over the country that my story's resonated with them.
As a young kid I wanted to be a truck driver.
I think we felt like we'd done so much as young kids that we didn't know how to top ourselves. We were like, 'Is this where it ends? Is this as good as it gets? Maybe we're done. Throw in the towel.'
With the money thing it is mad. As a young kid earning so much, having a house and driving a nice car it is nice but it is something I keep level-headed about.
I was a young kid; I did a little time in the Billerica House of Correction, and it basically turned my life around because I said, 'Oh, I'll never be locked up again. They're not taking away my privacy.' So I flipped a coin: heads - Miami, tails -California.
In my head, I was like any young kid: 'I'm going to be a footballer.' But at the same time, my mum and dad were making me do my schoolwork, and that was important.
When I entered the pros, I was a young kid in the major leagues. I was 18 years old, right out of high school. I thought I knew everything, and I clearly didn't.
