Adam Rippon has become a superstar at the PyeongChang Games, and now he is proving himself to be a self-aware superstar at that.
A Twitter user cracked a joke on Tuesday based around the American figure skater quadrupling his number of followers in the last week.
wow, @Adaripp quadrupled his followers in a week, more than he's ever quadrupled in his life
— 임아리 (@iamkid_A) February 20, 2018
Rippon himself soon replied, one-upping the tweet with a hilarious self-roast.
I finally found a quad that I can do. https://t.co/2TVf0fvV57
— Adam Rippon (@Adaripp) February 20, 2018
For reference, the quad in figure skating (also known as the quadruple) is a difficult jump with four revolutions. Rippon’s refusal to even attempt a quad (either in the team event or in the men’s singles competition) actually became something of a storyline in PyeongChang — though his routine places more of an emphasis on artistic and aesthetic elements rather than challenging jumps.
While his lack of a quad may have played a factor in Rippon’s tenth-place finish in singles, he still took home a bronze medal with the U.S. as part of the team competition. That combined with his newfound viral stardom is more than enough to give Rippon the confidence to poke fun at himself on occasion.
