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Ryan Miller
(April 24, 1975 - living) U.S.A.

Ryan Miller

Professional snow-boarder

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Born in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. He grew up in Limerick. Snowboarder Ryan Miller suffers for his sport. In 1991 he screwed up his ankle during one run. Last year he crashed into a gate and messed up his left knee. And his most recent injury cost him any chance at landing a spot on the U.S. Winter Olympic team.

The crash sent him flying through the air and knocked him unconscious. Amazingly, his injuries did not prevent him from competing at the snowboarding trials at Mt. Bachelor, Ore. They did, however, keep him from performing anywhere near his peak, and Miller finished a combined 21st for his two runs. Only the top three qualified for Salt Lake City.

With his Olympics chances gone, Miller is now setting his sights on making the U.S. national team, with the hopes of being an Olympian in 2006.

Despite his travails on the slopes, Miller is a man at peace. It's what coming out has meant to him. Miller is the only openly elite gay snowboarder in the U.S. He has known he was gay since his sophomore year in college.

During the winter of 2000-2001, Miller was part of a mixed-gender professional snowboarding team. Which meant he was eating, sleeping, training, competing and socializing with the same group of people full-time for months.

Miller made his declaration on a team trip to Vancouver, British Columbia, when a group of teammates invited him to join them on a trip to a local strip club. He declined, simply stating, "I'm not into that ... I'm gay.'' He received a shoulder colder than a Canadian winter from his teammates save for two women and one man. Invitations to social events dried up, the camaraderie ended and he was basically shunned.

Ryan MillerDespite his sport's more conservative nature, Miller is very out and proud. His board boasts stickers from his sponsors: Outboard.org (a gay and lesbian snowboarding group); Team Philadelphia (whose pink triangle is hard to miss) and Team Flame (an organization for gay elite athletes).

At every event, Miller fields questions from fans, organizers and athletes about the stickers and what they represent. Miller is a one-man crusader, trying to show that being gay "is not this big, bad, dark secret.'' He describes the reaction as universally positive and last year was asked to speak twice on diversity at the University of Delaware.

His fellow snowboarders have also come around. Miller is happy with his new training team, the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club. And where he once could see looks of astonishment from athletes "who just realized they were beaten by a fag,'' he says, "they now see me as just another athlete.''

An area where his sexuality has apparently been a factor is with sponsors, or rather the lack of them. Miller said he has heard "in not so many words'' when pursuing sponsors that some companies are not eager to be associated with an openly gay snowboarder. He has struggled to raise enough money so he can live and train in Steamboat Springs during the season. The only name company he has sponsoring him is Subaru, which assisted him with use of a car.

To make ends meet once the season ends, Miller goes back to his native Pennsylvania, where he works as project management consultant in the information technology field. He put his use of technology to work in a personal way, with an extensive Web site that includes an interesting diary.

While he's not on his beloved slopes in the offseason, the tradeoff is a much more active social life. Miller, who is single, says "I've never had a relationship last through an entire winter.'' He attributes this to the total dedication he must give to training and competing. "I have had to sacrifice in my relationships and a social life.''

Miller's goal is to compete in the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, and then possibly call it quits, "unless my body gives out beforehand.''

As he writes on his Web site:

"2000/2001 was also the season that I decided to come "out" as a snowboarder. In the past, I had kept my sexuality a secret, fearing retaliation/repercussions from the industry and competitors. The industry is in some ways still very much tied to old world Europe and the competitors are not always the most open to diversity, just as the rest of society is not always accepting."

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