--- title: Adam Rippon, Mirai Nagasu's Friendship Is Olympics Highlight description: Team USA figure skaters Adam Rippon and Mirai Nagasu's beautiful friendship deserves a gold medal in its own right. canonical: https://time.com/5146168/adam-rippon-mirai-nagasu-friendship-olympics-2018/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-12T18:06:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:50:32.637Z og:title: Adam Rippon + Mirai Nagasu's Friendship Deserves a Gold Medal og:description: Friendship goals og:url: https://time.com/5146168/adam-rippon-mirai-nagasu-friendship-olympics-2018/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte37bb65a2bda217d/6989271b86f68e428e6e83d8/adam-rippon-mirai-nagasu-friendship-olympics-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Figure Skating - Winter Olympics Day 3 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Adam Rippon + Mirai Nagasu's Friendship Deserves a Gold Medal twitter:description: Friendship goals twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte37bb65a2bda217d/6989271b86f68e428e6e83d8/adam-rippon-mirai-nagasu-friendship-olympics-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Internet Is Going Wild for Adam Rippon and Mirai Nagasu's Beautiful Friendship at the Olympics  by [Cady Lang](/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Feb 12, 2018 6:06 PM CUT  Richard Heathcote—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Feb 12, 2018 6:06 PM CUT Sunday night’s [figure skating team event](http://time.com/5143981/mirai-nagasu-olympic-team-figure-skating/ "undefined") at the [2018 Winter Olympics](http://time.com/5123348/winter-olympics-2018-schedule/ "undefined") in [Pyeongchang, South Korea](http://time.com/5123599/pyeongchang-weather-winter-olympics-2018/ "undefined") netted Team USA the bronze medal during a program where [Mirai Nagasu](http://time.com/5143814/mirai-nagasu-triple-axel-olympics-2018/ "undefined") and [Adam Rippon](http://time.com/5143878/adam-rippon-internet-reactions-olympics-2018/ "undefined") shone brightly for the U.S. team. Nagasu made history as the first American woman to land a triple axel in Olympic competition, while Rippon earned a [bronze medal for his free skate performance](http://time.com/5144288/adam-rippon-olympics-2018-bronze/ "undefined") that immediately won the hearts of the Internet and the world. Viewers were quick to notice that it wasn’t only Rippon and Nagasu’s feats on the ice that were worth watching, however; both were enthusiastic about encouraging each other while performing, with Rippon’s especially emotive reactions to Nagasu’s historic triple axel quickly becoming a hit online. The figure skating pair have a friendship that extends beyond just the 2018 Winter games, however; the pair have been friends for more than ten years and have helped each other as they’ve faced both challenges and successes. In an interview with _NBC_ after his free skate, Rippon had an especially sweet anecdote to share about the duo’s journey to the Olympic triumphs they’ve experiencing in Pyeongchang. > [](https://twitter.com/NBCOlympics/status/962887138579709952) “You know, especially tonight, my friend Mirai \[Nagasu\] and I…four years ago, we got In-N-Out, we went back to her house, we climbed up to the roof of her house, and we were eating In-N-Out because we were so upset that we weren’t at the Olympic Games,” Rippon said. “Tonight, you know, the Olympics are truly magical, because we came out here tonight, and — we’re roommates here, staying at the Olympic Village — we gave each other a hug, and I said, ‘You know, Mirai, we’re here! We did it!'” As might be expected, the Internet had all of the feelings about Rippon and Nagasu’s beautiful friendship and took to the web to share their feelings about the matter. > [](https://twitter.com/nickiknowsnada/status/962886612572139525) > [](https://twitter.com/JiffyPopCulture/status/962913602284990464) > [](https://twitter.com/c%5Fkayiza/status/962875383468183552) > [](https://twitter.com/magicaleggrolls/status/962884902818603009) > [](https://twitter.com/tobinlow/status/962885211892715520) > [](https://twitter.com/sarahkuhn/status/962886033271500800) > [](https://twitter.com/coryohlendorf/status/962911067826458624) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5146168/adam-rippon-mirai-nagasu-friendship-olympics-2018/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5146168/adam-rippon-mirai-nagasu-friendship-olympics-2018/"},"headline":"The Internet Is Going Wild for Adam Rippon and Mirai Nagasu's Beautiful Friendship at the Olympics","datePublished":"2018-02-12T18:06:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:50:32.637Z","description":"Friendship goals","url":"https://time.com/5146168/adam-rippon-mirai-nagasu-friendship-olympics-2018/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Winter Olympics","2018 Pyeongchang Olympics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte37bb65a2bda217d/6989271b86f68e428e6e83d8/adam-rippon-mirai-nagasu-friendship-olympics-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte37bb65a2bda217d/6989271b86f68e428e6e83d8/adam-rippon-mirai-nagasu-friendship-olympics-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Figure Skating - Winter Olympics Day 3","caption":"Figure Skating - Winter Olympics Day 3","creditText":"Richard Heathcote—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5146168/adam-rippon-mirai-nagasu-friendship-olympics-2018/","name":"The Internet Is Going Wild for Adam Rippon and Mirai Nagasu's Beautiful Friendship at the Olympics"}}]}] ```