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This Video From Adam Rippon’s Olympics Short Program Will Give You LIFE

by Priscilla Totiyapungprasert
Maddie Meyer/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images

If you're following figure skating at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, you've probably heard of Adam Rippon, the Team USA figure skater who's stolen so many hearts. After representing the United States in the figure skating team event, the crowd-pleaser graced the ice again Thursday night — and fans were not disappointed. Skating to the song “Let Me Think About It” by Ida Carr and Fedde le Grand, Rippon displayed plenty of personality, a whole lot of sparkle courtesy of his skating costume, and the upbeat attitude fans have come to love him for, as video from his Winter Olympics short program shows.

Rippon's clean skate earned him a score of 87.95 and put him briefly in the lead. The figure skater reportedly hit most of his moves, but was docked for an imperfect triple axel landing.

The men's figure skating short program came with some Olympic firsts as Team USA hopes to add to their bronze medal in the figure skating team event. After his teammate Vincent Zhou became the first person to land a quadruple lutz during the Olympics, Rippon made his highly anticipated entrance.

"I might not be the best, but I'm the most fun," he said on NBC beforehand. "I'm going to skate my heart out."

As for Rippon, he is the first openly gay athlete to represent the United States in figure skating. He, along with skier Gus Kentworthy, are two of the 15 openly LGBTQ athletes competing in the Olympics at PyeongChang.

“Being here at the Olympics does give me a louder voice,” Rippon said, as reported by USA Today. “It has given me a platform. It’s given me a voice to reach to young kids. I’ve gotten so many messages I could even get emotional thinking about it, but I’ve gotten so many messages from young kids all over the country that my story’s resonated with them. It’s incredibly powerful this platform that you can have at the Olympic Games.”

Rippon made his Olympic debut earlier this week performing the men's free skate portion of figure skating team event. His third place finish helped the United States secure enough points to take home the bronze medal.

The 28-year-old returned for men's individual event and got the crowd going with a synth-heavy pop tune that wouldn't sound out of place at a club. Rippon's short program song, called “Let Me Think About It," is an electro house remix from original singer Ida Corr, a Danish soul artist, and Fedde le Grand, a Dutch DJ.

The '80s inspiration, funky beat, and catchy lyrics match Rippon's sass and flair both on and off the ice (see Rippon's Twitter account for some of his hilarious tweets). Rippon performed the same song at the 2018 U.S. Figure Skating National Championships in January as part of his "trashy dance-club routine."

"I described myself as 'a little trashy and a little fun' to the Associated Press," the Olympian tweeted. "I bet my mom is proud."

For his free skate routine, Rippon will likely go with a similar program to the one he performed at the team event where he skated to “Arrival of the Birds” by The Cinematic Orchestra, and “O” by Coldplay.

After changing the rules in the 2014-2015 skate season, this year's Winter Olympics is the first in which figure skaters have been allowed to use music with lyrics in their routines.

"It really opened the door for somebody like me to go out there and try to change it up a little bit," Rippon told Billboard when discussing the rule change. "I think as humans we love things that sound familiar and sometimes in skating, before lyrics were allowed, we tried to do things that sounded familiar. But when we find something with lyrics, it's easier to portray that and perform."

Be sure to cheer and watch Rippon with the rest of Team USA in the men's free skate this Saturday, Feb. 17 at 8 p.m. ET.