U.S. President Donald Trump criticized American Olympic skier Hunter Hess on Sunday, days after the athlete expressed mixed feelings about representing the U.S. at the Winter Olympics in northern Italy.
¡°If that¡¯s the ?case, he shouldn¡¯t have tried out for the Team, ?and ?it¡¯s too bad he¡¯s on it,¡± Trump wrote ?in a post on his Truth Social media platform, referencing Hess¡¯ comments. ¡°Very hard to root for someone like this.¡±
Political tensions have surfaced at the Milano Cortina Olympics, including over the presence ?of personnel from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The agency has faced widespread protests across the U.S. after agents shot ?and killed two people in Minneapolis last month.
During a news conference in Milan on ?Friday, Hess, a ?freestyle skier, said it was ¡°a little hard¡± ?to represent the U.S. and that he felt mixed emotions.
¡°There¡¯s ?obviously ?a lot going on that I¡¯m not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren¡¯t,¡± he said. ¡°Just because I¡¯m wearing the flag doesn¡¯t mean I represent everything that¡¯s going on in the U.S.¡±
Teammate Chris Lillis spoke out against ICE at the same news conference, saying he felt heartbroken.
¡°I think that as a ?country ?we need to focus on respecting everybody¡¯s rights and making sure that we¡¯re treating our citizens as well ?as anybody with love and respect,¡± Lillis said. ¡°And I hope that when people look at athletes competing in the Olympics, they realize that that¡¯s the America that we¡¯re ?trying to represent.¡±
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