Olympian Gus Kenworthy Mourns Death Of Dog He Adopted From Meat Farm

U.S. freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy wrote a gut-wrenching goodbye Sunday to a dog he adopted from a South Korean meat farm during the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Beemo, Kenworthy’s jindo-husky mix, had lost her appetite, and a subsequent trip to the veterinarian revealed a heart defect, the Olympian said. The dog was put on a respirator but eventually died, he said.

“Beemo was truly the best thing that ever happened to me and I feel so fortunate for our borrowed time together,” he wrote on Instagram. “I’ve never loved anything or anyone in the way that I loved that dog and she is and will always be deeply missed. She was so smart and playful. She brought so much happiness to so many people every single day.”

Kenworthy said he and boyfriend Matthew Wilkas are “beside ourselves trying to cope with her loss.”

Kenworthy, 26, won silver in the slopestyle at the 2014 Sochi Games in Russia but did not medal in the same event in Pyeongchang. But he is an even greater champion of animal causes.

The 26-year-old athlete also rescued stray puppies while he was in Sochi.