--- title: The Gus Kenworthy Game of Thrones Lookalike Memes Are Here description: The Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy and the internet have identified his celebrity lookalike, and it's a popular actor from Game of Thrones. canonical: https://time.com/5155421/gus-kenworthy-richard-madden/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-13T15:41:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T08:58:02.206Z og:title: The Internet Found Gus Kenworthy's Game of Thrones Lookalike og:description: He's got the royal look og:url: https://time.com/5155421/gus-kenworthy-richard-madden/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79d842d2b39fbd10/69892751e76ad202f363104e/gus-kenworthy1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4413 og:image:height: 2482 og:image:alt: Around the Games: Day 2 - Winter Olympic Games og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Internet Found Gus Kenworthy's Game of Thrones Lookalike twitter:description: He's got the royal look twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79d842d2b39fbd10/69892751e76ad202f363104e/gus-kenworthy1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Internet Found Gus Kenworthy's _Game of Thrones_ Lookalike and It's Perfect > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=507aa524-02c1-4c95-8512-6d1a942c6634&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Gus Kenworthy Is The First Openly Gay Winter Olympian [Watch (HLS stream): Gus Kenworthy Is The First Openly Gay Winter Olympian](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FsbJtgRH.m3u8) (4:13)  _Published 2017-12-15. Gus Kenworthy heads to the Winter Olympics in South Korea, thrilled to represent the LGBT community as the first openly gay Winter Olympic athlete._  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Feb 13, 2018 3:41 PM UTC Gus Kenworthy heads to the Winter Olympics in South Korea, thrilled to represent the LGBT community as the first openly gay Winter Olympic athlete.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Feb 13, 2018 3:41 PM UTC Olympic freestyle skier [Gus Kenworthy](http://time.com/5141750/gus-kenworthy-adam-rippon-kiss/) is a king in his sport. And it turns his celebrity doppelgänger is a king, too — or was, anyway — [in the North](http://time.com/4320854/game-of-thrones-starks-seven-faced-god-theory/). Of Westeros, that is. As the internet noted, and Kenworthy called out on his own Twitter and Instagram Story, the athlete shares an undeniable resemblance to Scottish actor Richard Madden, perhaps best known for playing the ill-fated [Robb Stark](http://time.com/4298174/game-of-thrones-season-6-happy/item//) in the early seasons of [_Game of Thrones_](http://time.com/5134300/winter-olympics-game-of-thrones-predictions-video/)_._ “Uh oh,” he called out to Madden on social media, “they’re on to us…” The two do have more than a few commonalities, especially when you compare Kenworthy to Madden’s _Thrones_ character. There are the physical similarities — the thick hair, the winter-friendly beard scruff, the bright blue eyes — but also the tendency to excel in spending time in cold, snowy environments. And both Robb Stark and Kenworthy are leaders in their own way. Stark declared himself King of the North and led an uprising against the southern regime of the Lannisters to avenge his father’s death, while Kenworthy has become a prominent figurehead [for LGBTQ visibility](http://time.com/5066113/gus-kenworthy-ready-to-embrace-role-2018-winter-olympics/) in sports after coming out publicly following his first Olympics in Sochi in 2014. In any case, this is one doppelgänger situation that Kenworthy seems perfectly happy to accept. No word yet from Madden, who most recently was filming the TV series [_Bodyguard_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt7493974/?ref%5F=nm%5Fflmg%5Fact%5F2)_._ If Kenworthy seems extra-active on social media, it might be because he’s still waiting for his PyeongChang events to begin later this week: slopestyle, in which he took silver in the last Games, happens [on Feb. 18.](http://results.nbcolympics.com/results?sport%5Fid=221&date=-1) > [](https://twitter.com/HireMeImFunny/status/963244474007728128) > [](https://twitter.com/21sadteens/status/963254697778929666) > [](https://twitter.com/guskenworthy/status/963299628580978688) > [](https://twitter.com/alexislhorton/status/962460499563528192) > [](https://twitter.com/himayw88/status/962154294349877248) ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] When I was 14, one of my best friends we were sitting on the back of a snow cat getting towed up the mountain. And he ended up slipping over the side and got caught in the tracks and was run over. And it was so horrible, [ MUSIC ] And I remember wishing that it happened to me because if I had died, everyone would have remembered me in the same way that he was getting remembered. And I felt like if it happened to me, then everyone would have remembered me in this amazing way and No one would have ever had to find out that I was gay. I always felt when I was younger that I had this deficit because I was gay and if anybody found out it was going to be such a negative thing and have negative repercussions and so I had to make up for it in every other way. So I pushed myself really hard in school and I pushed myself in sports and tried to kind of Almost build myself up in all these other areas so that it could compensate for this other thing that was, what I thought was wrong with me at the time. [ SOUND ] Triple from Kenworthy. He wants it. [ APPLAUSE ] The last Olympics, it was like One of the most euphoric moments of my entire life. Getting silver medal was like everything for me. And everything that happened with the media around that and everything else put me on a place where I suddenly realize that I don't want these two separate lives. I don't wanna be living a lie and feeling guilty about who I am. And I had it on my mind that I wanted to Come out as number one in the world, because I felt like no one can talk **** when you're the best. And I flew from Aspen to Mammoth from the Grand Prix and I won. And then I flew to LA for the Air and Style in Pasadena, and I won. And then I flew to Park City for the Grand Prix, and I won. Sure enough, I was ranked number one again and things just kinda lined up for me. I got a call from someone in my industry. This was someone that I looked up to a lot and he wold be like where's your boyfriend, you ****. And like all these different things and like why you late for practice, you sucking his ****? And like things that were so inappropriate and like really hurt me and then the day that I came out he called me and he was like choked up, almost in tears and was like I just want to say I'm so sorry because Of the things that I said and I never really actually thought that that was the case, and if I ever had I would have never said those things. But look I'm so sorry if I made it harder for you, or anything. And that phone call from this person, the last person I would have ever expected to, really made me feel like my god this is gonna be a much better experience than I thought it was gonna be. The happiest I've ever been, the best I've ever felt, any of those things have all been like. I wasn't in the right head space, and I think that so much of competing is mental. And I think that me coming out put me in the right head space. Going into Korea now, I feel a lot more pressure actually than I did going into Sochi, but it's all for good things. For good reasons. Like, the thought of being the first openly gay male ever to compete in the Winter Olympics is, it's **** cool. I still have a lot to prove but it's not even so much to myself now. It's kind of like to everybody else I feel in a way. It's this other demographic that's watching me. It's the LGBT community. I'm like so badly I want to inspire that community. Community and do well for them. And I would love to win a gold medal and have that for my country and for my community and just be able to have that. That, for me, is a pressure that I would want. 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