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Zhangjiakou (China) (AFP) – British freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy does not feel the IOC’s “heart is in the right place”, he said Saturday, as he bowed out of the Olympics for good by accusing the governing body of “greed”.
Kenworthy, a silver medallist in 2014 for the USA before switching allegiance, has been a fierce critic of the International Olympic Committee’s decision to award China the Winter Olympics because of its “appalling” human rights record.
He told AFP earlier this week that he has been trying to “tread lightly” while he is in China.
But the 30-year-old did not hold back after competing in Saturday’s halfpipe final — his last event before retiring.
“It was never that I thought China couldn’t put on a good Games — I absolutely knew that they could and they have,” he said.
“But when there are human rights atrocities happening in the country and a poor stance on LGBTQ rights, then those things need to be taken into consideration by the IOC.”
Kenworthy came out as gay shortly after winning silver in slopestyle at the Sochi Games, and he has been an outspoken supporter of LGBTQ…
