U.S. figure skater Adam Rippon just won a bronze medal for his part in the figure skating team event at the Pyeongchang Winter Games, realizing a dream at least 15 years in the making.
In an unearthed video from 2003, a then-13-year-old Rippon let local Pennsylvania TV station WNEP know he had his sights on the Olympics.
“It was the first time I did a triple in competition, so I was really excited as soon as I did that,” he said about a competition in Luxembourg, where he placed second in his short program and first in his long program.
That trip also included a visit to the Olympic museum in Switzerland.
“When you see, like, all these things about other people who have won the Olympics and everything, you think that you’ve done a great thing,” Rippon said. “But you’re still so far away.”
Prophetic words for someone who says he felt like he missed out on the last Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia in 2014.
He told NBC he and teammate Mirai Nagasu “were eating In-N-Out because we were so upset we weren’t at the Olympic games.”
“The Olympics are truly magical because we came out here tonight … we gave each other a hug and said, ‘Mirai, we’re here! We did it!’” he said during the interview over the weekend.
Watch his team skate here.