The United States announced on Tuesday that two openly gay athletes will be part of the country's delegation for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Sochi Winter Olympics, which will be held in early 2014.

Tennis legend Billie Jean King is one of those athletes, along with hockey player Caitlin Cahow. This is the first time since 2000 that the US is not sending a president, vice president, first lady or former president to an Olympic event, which is viewed as a slight against Russia for its harsh penalties against homosexuals.

Last week, King, winner of 39 Grand Slams in her career and victor at perhaps the most famous tennis match ever played - The Battle of the Sexes - denounced the International Olympic Committee while addressing the United Nations.

Last month, the IOC's president, Thomas Bah, said Russia would set up public protest zones during the Games for "people who want to express their opinion or want to demonstrate for or against something."

Rule 50 of the Olympic charter forbids demonstrations on Olympic grounds, particularly by athletes. The IOC sent out a letter last week stating as much.

The 28-year-old Cahow, a native of Connecticut, is a Harvard graduate, law student and member of the women's national hockey team while also playing hockey professionally.

Russia first came under fire for passing a national law banning "gay propaganda." Many wanted U.S. President Barack Obama to boycott the games altogether, something the US has not done since the 1980 Summer Olympics, which were held in Moscow at the height of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States.