Hey everyone, my name is Ari Saberstein, and I'm the host of Blind Landing.

If you haven't heard the show before, Blind Landing is a documentary podcast.

In each season, we do a deep dive into the culture of a different sport.

Last year we released the first season of Blind Landing, which went behind the scenes

in the world of elite gymnastics.

And now, for our second season, we've got a handful of new stories, all about the world,

of figure skating.

We're going to be getting up close and personal with some of the biggest names in figure

skating, like Adam Rippon and Kristi Amaguchi, along with some skaters that you might not

know about, but should, like Mia Kaelin and Mabel Fairbanks.

And the stories this season, they're all about identity, in all shapes and forms.

And today's episode is the first of a three-part story.

Now, I started off the first season of Blind Landing by explaining that I'm a journalist,

not a gymnast.

And I think it's worth saying right now that I am also not a figure skater.

I couldn't tell you a lot from an axle, until recently I thought it was sal cow, not

sal cow, that the jump was an illusion to cows somehow, I'm so, so not, a figure skating

expert.

But when I was a kid, there was something about figure skating that left a really big impact

on me.

See, I associate figure skating with the very first time that I remember hearing about

gay people, long before I knew I was gay, and before I really knew what being gay even

...