VIDEO: Johnny Weir Retires from Skating to Serve as NBC Olympics Analyst
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Two-time Olympic figure skater and three-time U.S. champion Johnny Weir announced on this morning's TODAY on NBC that he is retiring from competitive skating and joining NBC Olympics as a figure skating analyst for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. Check out the appearance below!
The skating star, who is openly gay and married to a Russian man, also spoke about Russia's controversial anti-gay laws. Weir has been opposed to calls for a boycott of the Sochi Olympics because he feels it would negate the efforts of athletes who have worked hard to reach the Games.
"I'm a gay American. I've married into a Russian family. I've been a longtime supporter of Russia, the culture, the country, the language, everything about Russia," Weir said on TODAY Wednesday. "While this law is a terrible thing that you can't be gay publicly in Russia, I plan to be there in full support of our brothers and sisters there and not be afraid.
"If I get arrested, I get arrested; if not, great, but our presence is needed. For all the Olympians that worked so hard, a boycott is just the worst thing that you could do to all these young people."
Weir won three consecutive U.S. titles from 2004-2006, and took fifth place at the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics and sixth in the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. He recently appeared in his own reality series, "Be Good Johnny Weir,' on the Logo Network.
