By STEVEN SLOAN and EDDIE PELLS
LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — Because the Winter Olympics opened in Milan, Vice President JD Vance hailed the competition as “one of many few issues that unites your entire nation.”
That unity didn’t final lengthy.
The early days of the Milan Cortina Games have been roiled by the tumultuous political debate within the U.S. American athletes have confronted persistent questions on President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement agenda and their consolation in representing a rustic whose insurance policies are more and more controversial on the world stage.
“There’s clearly lots occurring that I’m not the most important fan of and I believe lots of people aren’t,” American freestyle skier Hunter Hess mentioned as he spoke of the “combined feelings” of representing the U.S. “If it aligns with my ethical values, I really feel like I’m representing it. Simply because I’m sporting the flag doesn’t imply I symbolize all the things that’s occurring within the U.S.”
That prompted a fast response from Trump, who mentioned on social media that Hess was a “actual loser” who “shouldn’t have tried out for the workforce.”
“Very exhausting to root for somebody like this,” the president added.
The criticism of an American athlete from a U.S. president was a pointy departure from the unifying, apolitical tones the White Home usually strikes throughout the Olympics, highlighting how the stress over the enforcement of Trump’s immigration insurance policies has now bled into athletic competitors. Different main conservative voices, starting from podcaster Megyn Kelly to a Republican candidate for governor in Florida, added to the critique of Hess, with some calling for him to be taken off the U.S. workforce.
By Monday, other top athletes who’ve beforehand discovered themselves in political controversy had been rallying to Hess’ protection.
“In moments like these, it’s actually necessary for us to unite and type of arise for each other for all that’s occurring,” mentioned Chloe Kim, the two-time Olympic gold medalist whose mother and father are South Korean immigrants and who has confronted racism all through her profession for her Asian heritage.
After her silver-medal win in slopestyle, Eileen Gu, who was born in San Francisco and competes for China, mentioned she had been in contact with Hess, who instructed her she was one of many few individuals who might relate to what he’s going via.
“As somebody who’s been caught within the crossfire earlier than, I really feel sorry for the athletes,” mentioned Gu, whose choice to compete for China drew sharp critiques.
The Olympics are by no means walled off from politics
The Olympics are by no means walled off from the political and cultural debates. The raised fists of Tommie Smith and John Carlos throughout the 1968 Olympics stay one of the crucial highly effective and enduring photos of protest and resistance to racial injustice within the U.S. Since then, political commentary from athletes has develop into extra commonplace, aided by social media platforms that permit rivals to share their real-time ideas on all the things from meals and diet to information of the day.
The feedback from athletes in Italy are notable, nevertheless, as a result of they’re coming on the greatest international sporting occasion to happen since federal brokers killed two U.S. residents in Minneapolis final month, reigniting a debate within the U.S. and overseas over Trump’s hard-line immigration measures.
Chris Lillis, one other American freestyle skier, mentioned he felt “heartbroken about what’s taking place in the US.”
“As a rustic, we have to deal with respecting all people’s rights and ensuring that we’re treating our residents in addition to anyone with love and respect,” he mentioned. “I hope that when folks have a look at athletes competing within the Olympics, they notice that that’s the America that we’re making an attempt to symbolize.”
Snowboarding star Mikaela Shiffrin quoted Nelson Mandela as she acknowledged “quite a lot of hardship on the planet globally, and there’s quite a lot of heartbreak, there’s quite a lot of violence.”
“It may be robust to reconcile that while you’re additionally competing for medals in an Olympic occasion,” she mentioned. “I’m actually hoping to point out up and symbolize my very own values, values of inclusivity, values of variety and kindness and sharing, tenacity, work ethic, exhibiting up with my workforce each single day.”
For essentially the most half, athletes are largely partaking in political dialog throughout information conferences after they’re particularly requested to reply to information occasions. At one such press occasion, American determine skater Amber Glenn, an outspoken LGBTQ+ rights activist, famous that the queer group goes via a “exhausting time” below Trump. She later mentioned she would step again from social media after receiving threats on the platform.
Political controversy can put athletes at an uneasy intersection as they weigh whether or not to make use of their platforms to take a stance or keep away from something that may upset their followers or sponsors. Throughout final month’s Australian Open tennis match, American Amanda Anisimova mentioned questions on U.S. politics weren’t “related.” One other American participant, Taylor Fritz, mentioned he felt that “no matter I say right here goes to get put in a headline and it’s going to get taken out of context.”
“So I’d actually reasonably not do one thing that’s going to trigger an enormous distraction for me in the midst of the match,” he mentioned.
Again on the Olympics, U.S. speedskater Casey Dawson, mentioned “we undoubtedly know the entire state of affairs occurring within the USA” whereas noting that “politics don’t apply to us” on the Video games.
“We’re right here to skate,” mentioned Dawson, who completed eighth within the males’s 5,000 meters on Sunday with Vance and his household within the stands. “We’re right here to skate. We’re right here to carry out.”
The highlight on the U.S. that comes with international sports activities will solely intensify within the coming years. The U.S., together with Canada and Mexico, will host this yr’s World Cup and the 2028 Summer season Olympics might be held in Los Angeles. Whereas there’s little likelihood that political tensions within the U.S. will ease in that point, some hope that sports activities will function a approach for folks to course of their disagreements and finally come collectively.
“There’s this actually magical factor that sport can do,” mentioned Ashleigh Huffman, who was the chief of sports activities diplomacy on the State Division throughout the Biden and first Trump administrations. “It will probably decrease the temperature of the room.”
Sloan reported from Washington. Related Press writers Howard Fendrich and Graham Dunbar in Milan contributed to this report.
