The pride of representing your country, the United States, but not everything that is happening there right now. These are the “mixed emotions” of Hunter Hess, a 27-year-old freestyler from Oregon who, in Italy to take part in the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina, does not hide his displeasure at certain situations, eliciting a harsh reaction from President Trump: “Doesn’t he represent his country at the Games? A real loser, it’s a shame he’s part of the American team.”
After the boos at Vice President JD Vance during the Opening Ceremony of the Games on Friday evening at San Siro, and the ‘boo’s’ the following day at the Hockey Arena, the occupant of the White House must now deal with the disappointment for his policies that is spreading among American athletes.
“Just because I carry the flag doesn’t mean I see myself in what is happening in my country,” said the skier followed closely by Chris Lillis, another freestyle athlete. Who, answering some questions about Ice and the events in Minneapolis, said that he loves his country and that he does not want to represent another nation, but that he feels heartbroken about what is happening in the United States.
Skater Amber Glenn spoke about the difficult climate in the United States for the LGBT community, while alpine skiing champion Mikaela Shiffrin, the most successful in the history of the women’s Alpine skiing World Cup in her fourth Olympics, recalled the importance of values such as inclusion and respect.
The same principles recalled in recent days by snowboarder Kim Chloe, queen of the half pipe born in California to parents who emigrated from South Korea, who said she was “proud to represent a stronger country when it embraces diversity, dignity, hope”.
Another freestyle skier, the Anglo-American Gus Kenworthy, is also bringing the protest against anti-immigration militias to the Olympics. In recent days he posted the much more explicit words ‘Fuck Ice’ on social media, suggesting that he had created it on the snow with urine.
However, not everyone agrees with the positions taken by the stars and stripes athletes. This is the case of Michael Anthony Eruzione, US ice hockey legend, who invited Hess not to wear the uniform with the US flag. Points of view which, whatever one thinks, confirm the divisions about Trump and his policies even among American citizens.
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