Gay skater Johnny Weir won't be competing in Olympics in Russia

Gay skater Johnny Weir won't be competing in Olympics in Russia
Outspoken opponent of a boycott does not sign up for national championships
18 September 2013 | By Greg Hernandez
Johnny Weir

Gay US figure skater Johnny Weir won 't be competing in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

The Associated Press reports that Weir, a two-time Olympian, did not register to try and qualify for the national championship where the US Olympic team will be selected.

The nationals begin on 9 January in Boston and Weir would have had to perform well in them to qualify for a third Olympics. He finished sixth at the 2010 games in Vancouver.

Weir had been getting a lot of attention in recent months because of the backlash Russia has been receiving for its anti-gay propaganda law which has had some calling for a US boycott of the Olympics.

Just a week ago, Weir appeared on MSNBC to speak out against a boycott and sounded like a man who very much wanted to compete.

'Before a gay man, before a white man, I am an Olympian,' Weir said then. 'That's what I worked for from age 12 and a boycott would negate all of that. It would basically punish all of the non-LGBT athletes that would be on the US Olympic team for Sochi.'

If he had made the US team, Weir had said that as a high-profile gay man his presence in Sochi 'would be to empower the LGBT community of Russia and to make them realize that I am gay. I am celebrated in Russia and I'm here competing and me being gay has nothing to do with what I'm doing on the ice.'

'What we need to do is be there, to be strong and to be united,' he added. 'We have to show (Russian President Vladimir) Putin who we are, what we're about.'
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