Olympic Skater Tim Koleto Finds Freedom After Conversion Therapy

An Olympic silver medalist is using his platform to help LGBTQ youth avoid what happened to him at 21.

Tim Koleto won a silver medal with Team Japan at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. But years before stepping onto that podium, he survived an experience that would stay buried in his mind for nearly a decade.

In 2013, the ice dancer was about to leave his Colorado Springs home to train in Michigan. A family friend invited him over for what he thought would be a simple goodbye prayer.

Instead, a woman told him he had a "homosexual target" on his back. She called her husband, a priest, and together they performed what they believed would pray away his attraction to men.

Koleto pushed the memory aside and focused on his skating career. He went on to compete at World Championships and earn that Olympic medal four years ago.

It wasn't until 2022, during therapy sessions in Montreal where he now lives, that someone gave him words for what happened. His therapist asked a simple question: "How did it feel to go through conversion therapy?"

The question changed everything. Koleto realized his experience would be illegal in Canada, where he lives today. He decided to come out publicly in 2023, hoping to help young athletes going through similar struggles.

Why This Inspires

Koleto's story comes at a critical time. Nearly 700,000 LGBTQ adults in the U.S. have experienced conversion therapy, with about half subjected to it as teenagers, according to a Williams Institute study.

Most U.S. states still haven't banned the practice for minors. Colorado lawmakers recently approved a groundbreaking bill allowing survivors to sue practitioners, though it awaits the governor's signature.

Koleto believes visible LGBTQ athletes matter. He remembers feeling confused and left out as a young skater in Colorado Springs, wishing he had someone to look up to who understood what he was going through.

Now married and out to his family and friends, he's becoming that representation for others. He wants young skaters who feel like they don't quite fit in to know they're not alone.

His message is simple: the kid who feels different at the rink today might be tomorrow's Olympian, and they deserve to see themselves reflected in the sport they love.