Photograph Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Day by day Beast/Getty
U.S. skeleton athlete Andrew Blaser hated his sport for years, however he valued how the 2 minutes he spent sliding head-first down his ice observe allowed him to flee the double life he led: one as an aspiring Olympian and one as a person who couldn’t verbally admit he was homosexual.
“I’m at all times balancing,” Blaser instructed The Day by day Beast over Zoom from the Olympic Village in Yanqing, China.
Blaser, 32, was the only real member of the U.S male skeleton crew on the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, the place he completed Twenty first within the males’s singles competitors. The journey to Beijing—full with a rainbow-strapped sled—marked the fruits of eight years of professional ambition and private acceptance, each with the game and himself.
Blaser was born on Might 8, 1989 in Boise, Idaho, the youngest of 4 in a sports-driven Mormon household. His aggressive spirit began early, with stints in basketball, soccer, observe, and bobsledding all through highschool, the College of Idaho, and his post-graduate life. His purpose was at all times to get to the Olympics, his mom Ellen Blaser stated.
“We used to tease him about it. ‘Okay, Andy, you go for it,’ and not likely taking him too severely proper at first,” Ellen instructed The Day by day Beast. “It turned very, very clear, pretty shortly that he actually was going to dedicate himself to that, so then all of us simply acquired behind him.”
He finally picked skeleton as his medium, a sliding sport the place athletes glide headfirst down an ice observe at speeds of as much as about 80 mph. Blaser initially despised the game: the preparation to get right into a profitable psychological headspace for it was intense and inconsistent, and he didn’t like not being totally in management. He stated he’s earned the popularity of quitting extra occasions than anybody; he jokingly has a standing supply out to promote all of his tools.
However the excessive Blaser acquired as he slid down the observe—a “move state,” he stated— was unmatched, notably as he battled a few of his personal interior demons, similar to his expressing his sexuality.
“Skeleton allowed me that freedom for 2 minutes a day, these turned essentially the most helpful two minutes a day for me to get me via some stuff,” Blaser stated, “to assist me get to a spot that I used to be OK not being OK.”
Blaser got here out to his household roughly seven years in the past, a choice he stated he needed to persuade himself was the best factor to do. He had been comfy round his mates and colleagues, spending his highschool lunches with the theater youngsters as an alternative of the athletes he competed with (and coping with the homophonic taunts that got here with it, which he stated helped gas his aggressive drive).
However the resolution to be himself round his household was tougher than the nationwide championships he had competed in.
“I form of operated like a Doomsday prepper,” Blaser stated. “I used to be satisfied that my household was gonna hate me once I was initially coping with it, after which I acquired actually good at form of defending myself from that scenario that I used to be so afraid of.”
His household didn’t hate him, however the response additionally wasn’t overwhelming acceptance. His older sister Lindsay Blaser, with whom Blaser has an exceptionally shut relationship, stated she considered the expertise via the lens of a protecting older sibling, wanting Blaser to have the ability to specific himself whereas additionally avoiding any potential damaging reactions.
“I would like him to be totally himself and really comfortably himself in every thing,” Lindsay, 38, stated. “And I feel we’ve gotten to that time, nevertheless it’s not a straightforward factor for everybody.”
Acceptance didn’t come simply at first to Ellen Blaser, although she stated she wasn’t stunned when her son got here out (“What took you so lengthy?” she stated she thought). However she finally acknowledged the problem of popping out to a non secular household, who has grown nearer within the years since.
Of their shared love of studying and exchanging books, Ellen beneficial that Andrew learn Dustin Lance Black’s memoir Mama’s Boy: A Story From Our Americas, which recounts Black’s relationship together with his mom whereas rising up as a homosexual Mormon.
Andrew Blaser has used his household’s rising consolation together with his sexuality to let his self-expression flourish. All through his aggressive seasons, which generally final half a yr, Blaser has worn a snakeskin tracksuit with an identical pod on his sled. He’s painted his nails, which helped partially cease his nail-biting behavior. He stated when he returns from the Olympics subsequent week, he plans on making a good “louder” swimsuit.
Even in China, which has had a historical past of censorship in opposition to LGBTQ folks and the place same-sex marriage is illegitimate, Blaser managed to maintain his rainbow-colored tape on his sled’s handlebars whereas he competed, the response to which he stated was heartwarming. Some praised Blaser for modeling what a homosexual athlete may obtain, whereas others thanked him for uplifting relations who wrestled with popping out.
“It simply felt proper to place rainbow tape on and have a bit bit extra of, like, form of expression of myself, my persona, and issues that make me me, and to have that imply one thing to different folks was sudden,” he stated.
Blaser’s relationship with skeleton continues to be difficult. He’s grown extra in love with the game, the relationships he’s constructed via it, and the locations he’s managed to see. Nevertheless, he nonetheless hasn’t unlocked a constant state of “move,” will get pissed off by the outcomes of competitions (he missed the skeleton closing attributable to his Twenty first-place end), and stated the game’s monetary prices will be detrimental. “I don’t become profitable sliding skeleton,” he stated.
However Blaser, who works at a Starbucks when he isn’t in season, nonetheless plans to compete. He attributed his frustration to a childhood tendency to need to give up college after a failed take a look at—and a realization that, after such a hardship, you need to push ahead.
“So right here we're,” Blaser stated. “Ultimately, for those who simply maintain on lengthy sufficient, you make it to the Olympics.”