Argentine Olympic field hockey player Nicolás “Nico” Keenan was puzzled when his social media DMs suddenly filled with fans urging him to watch HBO Max’s Heated Rivalry.
“You remind me of Ilya [Rozanov],” one message read, referring to the hit series’ central character: a bisexual Russian hockey player, played by Connor Storrie, who carries on a secret relationship with his Canadian rival, Shane Hollander, portrayed by Hudson Williams.
When Keenan finally watched the show, he was struck by how closely its fictional romance echoed his own life.
The 28-year-old, who plays field hockey, is bisexual.
Since 2022, he has been dating Rob Jetten, who is expected to become the youngest-ever and first openly gay prime minister of the Netherlands. Their relationship, however, remained private until 2023, when their families, friends and the wider public learned about it.
For a year, the couple carefully hid their feelings while Keenan remained closeted — a real-life secrecy that mirrored the hidden relationships at the heart of Heated Rivalry.
“Top-level sports are very male-dominated and often toxic,” Keenan said in an exclusive interview with Our News Outlet.
“Athletes are presented as heroes. They are not supposed to have problems; they are perfect. They are fit and mentally strong, and you are not meant to show weakness.”
Professional field hockey player Nicolás “Nico” Keenan (right) spoke exclusively to Our News Outlet about the ways Heated Rivalry reflects his real-life romance
As the show’s characters do, Keenan (left) and Jetten (right) kept their relationship hidden during its early stages
“Top-level sports are very male-dominated and often toxic,” Keenan said, explaining why athletes — including himself and the characters in Heated Rivalry — may remain closeted
Born in Buenos Aires and raised in Spain and Italy, Keenan had long understood that he was attracted to men. But he came from a family with a deep hockey tradition, including a father and grandparents who played, so he kept his sexuality to himself.
“I was beginning to become quite good at the sport, and suddenly I had to make a decision,” he said. “When the door to becoming a professional athlete opened, I felt as though I had to close the door on acknowledging my attraction to men.”
At the time, Keenan was in a five-year relationship with a woman.
During the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he learned to “blend in” by emphasizing his masculine athlete persona and ignoring homophobic jokes in the locker room.
“Changing rooms are really the heart of any team sport. We spend so many hours together,” he said, adding that the comments created a “burning feeling inside.”
“I wanted to shout it out, but I couldn’t,” he continued. “So I learned how to behave and stay under the radar so nobody would notice me. Eventually, you even stop feeling the pain because it becomes part of your personality.”
That began to change after a handsome, dark-haired man repeatedly crossed paths with him at coffee shops and supermarkets in the Netherlands, where Keenan plays for the Dutch club HC Klein Zwitserland.
Eventually, the stranger sent Keenan a direct message on social media. It was Jetten.
Keenan began dating Rob Jetten (pictured), the future Dutch prime minister, privately in 2022
Keenan (pictured), who is bisexual, had not yet come out to his family, friends or teammates
“It was a connection at first sight,” Keenan told Our News Outlet. “We clicked, and suddenly I had someone I could talk to for hours.”
Jetten, who was already openly gay, agreed to keep the relationship private out of respect for Keenan’s situation.
Keenan said he trusted Jetten to protect their secret because the politician was already a “public figure” who “knows how to handle these situations.”
For months, Keenan shared a home with teammates and quietly slipped out to visit Jetten. He made sure to return before the others woke up at 7 a.m.
By his own account, however, his efforts to maintain their privacy occasionally went too far.
After Keenan delivered a strong performance in a game, Jetten left a congratulatory comment on his Instagram post. The field hockey player asked him to delete it.
Jetten did as he was asked.
Looking back, Keenan said he “felt immediately super bad” about sending that message.
Keenan said he trusted Jetten (pictured) to protect their relationship because he was a “public figure” who “knows how to handle these situations”
Keenan (left) acknowledged that he sometimes took the secrecy too far and regrets how he handled certain moments
It was becoming increasingly clear that Jetten, now 38, was frustrated by the constraints surrounding their relationship. One evening, he suggested that they have breakfast together the following morning.
Like Heated Rivalry characters Scott Hunter, played by François Arnaud, and Kip Grady, portrayed by Robbie Graham-Kuntz, the couple had spent much of their relationship away from public view.
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“I didn’t sleep at all that night,” Keenan told Our News Outlet. “I was terrified that we would run into someone in the neighborhood because we both lived there.”
His fears proved justified. They encountered people they knew, but Keenan managed to distance himself from Jetten just in time and pretend everything was normal.
“I panicked, and then the two people were like, ‘Oh, is that Rob Jetten?’” Keenan recalled. “I said, ‘Who?’”
“Then I said, ‘Oh, I didn’t know. Whatever.’ He kept walking, and I met him again at his place. Saying it out loud now, it sounds even worse.”
The encounter prompted the couple to confront what their future would look like. Jetten briefly stopped speaking to Keenan, but, much like Scott and Kip, they eventually found their way back to each other.
Keenan remained closeted, but he knew he could not continue hiding indefinitely.
Keenan represents Argentina in international field hockey and plays professionally for Dutch club HC Klein Zwitserland
Keenan once pretended not to know Jetten (pictured) in public because he feared their relationship would be exposed
Keenan (left) said Jetten (right) was initially patient during his coming-out journey, but eventually wanted them to share their lives more openly
“I have always been an open and social person,” Keenan said. “Since I was a child, I liked talking to people and making new friends. But over the years, I noticed that fire was disappearing. I wasn’t myself anymore. I needed to be myself again.”
By then, he was content that he had already reached one Olympics and was prepared to accept the possibility that coming out might prevent him from making the team again.
“I remember thinking, ‘It doesn’t matter if I don’t make the next one, but I will get sick if I keep this inside,’” he said.
As their relationship deepened, Keenan and Jetten took a romantic trip to a cabin in the woods. They hiked, swam and spent evenings cuddled beside the fireplace.
One night, they took a tender photograph together while sitting on a couch.
“We are so cute,” Jetten said. “This will look lovely on my [Instagram] story.”
After looking into Jetten’s “big” and “shiny” eyes, Keenan replied, “Yes, post it. It’s fine.”
After the couple’s 2023 getaway to a woodland cabin, Keenan agreed to let Jetten share this photograph of them cuddling on a couch. The post sparked immediate media attention
The couple’s public display of affection recalls Scott Hunter’s romantic gesture for Kip Grady in Heated Rivalry, shown here in an episode of the series
“We didn’t add any text,” Keenan said. “Then we went to sleep, and I thought, ‘OK, I have no control over this now. This is the moment the world will know. I’m with someone I believe is worth no longer hiding for.’”
The next morning, they woke to dozens of notifications. Gossip websites were reporting on their romance, while family and friends were sending messages.
Like Scott’s public gesture toward Kip during the Heated Rivalry championship game, the post brought Keenan a profound sense of relief.
“I was surprised by the impact the photograph had — and by the impact it had on my life,” he said.
Although most reactions have been overwhelmingly supportive, Keenan said some former coaches responded in ways that made him uncomfortable.
After his love story attracted media attention, he began hearing that he was “losing focus.”
“Sometimes I thought, ‘What exactly bothers you?’” Keenan said. “Is it that I’m not focused, or is it the subject I’m discussing?”
The criticism did not stop him. Keenan qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics, and he and Jetten became engaged in November of that year.
Keenan (right) is engaged to Jetten (left) and describes their relationship as “the kind of love I didn’t experience before”
The field hockey star praised Heated Rivalry for helping gay men feel “less lonely”
“It’s the kind of love I didn’t experience before,” Keenan told Our News Outlet.
Keenan believes Heated Rivalry has connected with such a broad audience — including straight men and women — because it gives men’s love stories space to be seen.
“It wasn’t only about the sex scenes,” he said. “Gay love in sports is a subject that television has rarely explored.”
“Visibility matters. Seeing that this could be your teammate, your neighbor or your classmate helps everyone become a little more considerate. If the show helps a generation feel less alone, then I think it is doing everything right.”
