American athletes have the right to speak their minds, double Olympic snowboarding champion Chloe Kim said yesterday, stepping into a row that has spilled from the Italian Alps into US politics.
Her comments came a day after US President Donald Trump labelled freestyle skier Hunter Hess a ‘real loser’ for admitting he felt conflicted about representing his country at the Milano Cortina Games.
Hess had said it was ‘a little hard’ to wear US colours given his unease about events at home, remarks that ignited a social media storm and drew Trump’s rebuke on Truth Social.
The exchange has sharpened a broader debate about whether Olympians should express personal views on the global stage.
American Olympic medallist Gus Kenworthy, competing for his birth nation Britain at the Games, was pulled into the same culture clash after saying he got ‘awful messages’ for posting an anti-ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) slogan, apparently etched with urine in the snow to his followers.
Together the episodes have turned athlete expression into one of the Games’ unexpected fault lines.
“I’m really proud to represent the United States,” Kim, a two-time Olympic gold medallist in the halfpipe, told a Press conference held by the women’s US snowboarding team in the mountain venue of Livigno yesterday.
“The US has given my family and I so much opportunity. But I also think that we are allowed to voice our opinions on what’s going on. And I think we need to lead with love and compassion and I would like to see some more of that.”
Kim’s comments were echoed by teammate Maddie Mastro, who said athletes should not turn a blind eye to what was happening around them.
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