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He said he would prefer not to meet Mr. Pence at the informal gathering of American athletes and the official delegation held before the Games.

If it were before my event, I would absolutely not go out of my way to meet somebody who I felt has gone out of their way to not only show that they arent a friend of a gay person but that they think that theyre sick, Mr. Rippon told the newspaper.

Mr. Pence has been dogged by claims that he supports conversion therapy since his 2000 campaign for Congress. After stating his opposition to same-sex marriage and anti-discrimination laws that protect gay people, his campaign website addressed the Ryan White Care Act, which provided federal funding for H.I.V./AIDS patients:

Congress should support the reauthorization of the Ryan White Care Act only after completion of an audit to ensure that federal dollars were no longer being given to organizations that celebrate and encourage the types of behaviors that facilitate the spreading of the HIV virus. Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior.

That was widely interpreted as signaling his support for conversion therapy. Representatives for Mr. Pence did not respond to emails seeking comment this week. But in January, a spokeswoman, Alyssa Farah, responded to Mr. Rippon, telling USA Today, This accusation is totally false and has no basis in fact.

In 2016, a spokesman, Marc Lotter, denied that Mr. Pence supported conversion therapy and said his campaign website proposed federal funding for groups that promoted safe sexual practices.

But Mr. Lotter declined to explain what Mr. Pence meant when he referred to groups that celebrate and encourage activity that spreads H.I.V. Gay and transgender groups view that language as directed at their community.

Mr. Rippon repeated his criticism of Mr. Pence on Twitter after the USA Today article was published, but he told reporters he had no interest in picking a fight with the vice president.

That seemed as if it might be the end of it.

But two weeks later, things escalated. On Wednesday, USA Today reported that Mr. Pences office was so concerned about Mr. Rippons criticism that it had taken the unusual step of asking the United States Olympic Committee to arrange a conversation between the two.

Mr. Rippon, true to his word, would not meet with the vice president, the paper reported.

That seemed to be too much for Mr. Pence. On Thursday, he lashed out at the paper, tweeting that the report was fake news and that the journalist who had written it was bent on dividing Americans. But he was careful not to criticize Mr. Rippon.

Mr. Pences communications director, Jarrod Agen, denied that he ever requested a meeting with Mr. Rippon, and said that the USA Today report was just not accurate.

The USA Today report is false & should be corrected, Mr. Agen tweeted. VPs office did not try to arrange a meeting with Mr. Rippon at Olympics.

Christine Brennan, the journalist who wrote the USA Today article, defended her work on Twitter, saying the report is true and therefore will not be corrected.

Mr. Rippons agent, David Baden, agreed.

We were contacted by his office and I think the objective was to have a conversation with Adam, he said in an interview. The request did not come directly to him or Mr. Rippon but went through the various proper channels and that message was then sent to us, he said.

He declined to explain what those channels were. The United States Olympic Committee did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Mr. Rippon obviously respects the office of the vice president and took the request seriously, he said. But the figure skater respectfully declined and said after he was done competing he would revisit the request.

His job is to be an athlete, Mr. Baden said. His mind is on training, competing and doing his best to represent the U.S. going into the Olympics.

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Mike Pence Tangles With Olympian Adam Rippon Over Gay Rights ...