In a very important and heartwarming followup to a story from earlier this week, Team USA Olympic freeskier Gus Kenworthy has had himself a hell of a time in Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics. Not only did Gus leap to Internet fame with some adorable photos of the already good-looking athlete holding a bunch of stray puppies, but as of yesterday, he is a silver medal-winning Olympic athlete. I’m sure he would have loved to have taken home the gold, but he’s still excited as all heck (I say!) to finish second.
But back to those puppies for a second. What was the point of Gus posing for those photos with the adorable litter of strays? Was he: A) Trying to raise awareness of the horrible fact that Sochi officials resolved to end the stray dog problem with mass euthanization? B) Scooping up as many puppies as he could hold so he could take them all home and provide them one roof under which they can be loved and cared for as long as they live? Or C) Simply using them to get laid, as I goofily implied?
If you chose B while Christmas-treeing your Scantron, step up and claim your prize.
That was posted right around the same time that people were questioning why Gus was playing with the puppies, and more people questioned him after the fact, because it sounded like he was just trying to say the right thing. So he responded again:
What’s really remarkable about all of this is that here’s Gus Kenworthy, a 22-year old bro who most of us had never even heard of before this week, and an athlete that was supposed to be focused solely on representing his country and trying to win a medal in freestyle skiing. Instead, some simple, harmless photos made him the poster child for animal lovers concerned about the stray dogs being killed in Sochi – even though it’s happening all over the world – and not only did he respond to critics and update his intentions every step of the way, he still managed to take home a silver medal.
And now he’s taking home some puppies as well, as he will keep one and his family members will keep the others.
I’ve been around animals all my life,” Kenworthy said of the hundreds of dogs roaming the streets in Sochi and the mountains above the Olympic city. “It’s hard to watch.”
He says he’s arranged for kennels to carry the dogs in, and for vaccinations. Family members back home are already lining up to adopt.
“I’ll keep one for myself,” he said. (Via CBS News)
While it’s pretty awesome that Gus just found out that he’s one of the USA medal winners featured on a box of Corn Flakes, I think the guy just earned his own bag of Purina.
