This is Side Door, a podcast from the Smithsonian with support from PRX. I'm Lizzy Peabody. Years ago, when I was in college I donated a sweater to a clothing drop and a few

weeks later on my way to class I spied it.

Across the quad in the wild, my sweater on another woman.

It felt so strange to see this thing that felt really personal to me, this black knit

sweater that I had picked out with my grandma and worn for years on a stranger.

It was an odd thrill, this mix of surprise and a twinge of betrayal, but most of all this sort of secret pride that someone else wanted something of mine.

And I kind of wanted to go up and touch it.

But that would have been inappropriate and, you know,

creepy because it's not mine anymore.

So imagine my surprise when I learned that this is an experience that I share with American Olympic figure

skater and bronze medalist Adam Ripon.

I wanted to go touch it, but now I know that if I touch it I'll get in trouble.

So that's like the biggest difference from seeing it right now.

A few weeks ago Adam Rapan visited the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

to see an item in their collection that once belonged to him.

In fact, it was made for him.

It's the costume he wore to the men's figure skating free skate event in the 2018 Olympics

in Pionchang South Korea. But now the costume sits on a mannequin at the

National Museum of American History. And seeing it in the museum, it seems like this is

the first time Rapon realizes it's not just his Olympic figure skating costume. Now it's

American history. A quick note, it was midday at the museum,

so it was a little noisy.

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