American athletes have the right to speak their minds says double Olympic snowboarding champion Chloe Kim, stepping into a row that has spilled from the Italian Alps into US politics.
Her comments came a day after 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.
British-American Olympic medallist Gus Kenworthy, competing for Team GB at the Games, was pulled into the same culture clash after saying he got “awful messages” for posting an anti-ICE 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 on Monday.
“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.
“I’m also saddened with what’s happening at home,” she said.
“It’s really tough and I feel like we can’t turn a blind eye to that. But at the same time, I represent a country that has the same values as mine of kindness and compassion, and we come together in times of injustice.”
Political tensions have surfaced at the Milano Cortina Olympics, including over the presence of personnel from ICE.
The agency has faced widespread protests across the US after agents shot and killed two people in Minneapolis last month.
Vice President JD Vance, who attended the Games’ opening ceremony in Milan on Friday, was booed when he was briefly shown on the San Siro stadium’s large screens.
