Here it was. The question, again. Politics makes an appearance in some form at every Olympics, and here at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games, there is no shortage of U.S. athletes who have been asked about “the situation back in America.”
Jessie Diggins has seen so much of this Olympic circus before. This will be the cross-country skier’s fourth and final Olympics. But she took a deep breath. As a Minnesotan, she surely knew it was coming.
People back home “have said, ‘Go race your heart out, you make me really happy when you go out there and smile at the start line, and you have glitter on your face,’” she said at a press conference before the Games began. “I’ve really taken that to heart, and I’m very focused on representing the version of America that’s respectful, loving, sharing, open, and looks out for one another.”
Why We Wrote This
Many athletes feel pressure from within themselves to speak on matters that they care about as part of upholding an Olympic ideal. But for each athlete, where to draw that line is different.
The Olympics and activism have long made an uncomfortable pairing, not least because the International Olympic Committee has done what it can to keep politics out. But truth be told, not many athletes want to make the Games into a political cause, either. They are here to compete and enjoy a richly deserved moment of attention and adulation.
But the comments here from many American athletes point to a deep wrestling and a desire not to scold, but to apply the Olympic ideals themselves, so they might appeal to what they see as humanity’s better nature.
The International Olympic Committee has been on something of a journey itself when it comes to athletes speaking their mind. For a time, its Rule 50 was seen as absolute: Athletes could not do or say anything political, at the risk of penalty.
But the enforcement has since softened. Any form of political statement during the competition itself remains prohibited. Outside the actual event, however, athletes have the space to speak. A poll by the Canadian Olympic Committee Athletes Commission found 80% support for this policy among its respondents, suggesting the IOC has found a middle ground.
Here, it seems, many American athletes are at least trying to do the same. Two members of the U.S. freestyle skiing team made headlines for their comments at a pre-Olympic press conference. But this was hardly Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising a Black power salute in 1968.
“There is obviously a lot going on that I am not the biggest fan of, but I am focused on representing my friends and family back home, and all the things that I believe are good about the United States,” said Hunter Hess.
He has faced a backlash in some quarters for adding: “Just because I wear the flag, it doesn’t mean I represent everything that is going on in the U.S.”
Hugh Carey/AP/File
President Donald Trump responded by calling Mr. Hess “a real Loser” on his Truth Social account and said the skier’s comments made it “Very hard to root for someone like this.”
The uproar speaks to the disincentive to say anything at all. And for many viewers in the U.S., that is how it should be. Olympians do not qualify for the Olympics for their political views, after all.
Commentator Clay Travis argued on X that the American media is unfairly putting the athletes in a tough position: “It seems like only American sports media members do this to our athletes. And they only do it when Republicans are in office.”
On Monday, Mr. Hess sought to add more context to his remarks in an Instagram post. While he acknowledged his earlier concerns – “there are always things that could be better” – he focused on the good that happens at the Games and how that can help back home.
“The best part of the Olympics is that it brings people together, and when so many of us are divided we need that more than ever. I cannot wait to represent Team USA next week when I compete.”
Apart from today’s political controversies, many athletes also feel pressure from within themselves to speak on matters that they care about. And for each athlete, where to draw that line is different.
For bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor, speaking out has everything to do with her two young sons, who are both deaf and one diagnosed with Down syndrome.
“I use my platform when I can help people,” she said in a Monitor interview a month before the Olympics. “For example, Venezuela – I don’t know anything about Venezuela, so I’m not going to speak up on it. But disability – I can speak well on that, so I will use that platform even if it hurts someone’s feelings.”
Issei Kato/Reuters
Often, it does hurt someone’s feelings. Or, perhaps even more damaging, a sponsor’s. And so many Americans here have sought to do something different, and overwhelmingly, that has been to build on the spirit the Olympics try to instill in every athlete.
“I’m really hoping to show up and represent my own values, values of inclusivity, values of diversity and kindness and sharing, tenacity, work ethic, showing up with my team every single day,” said Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin in a press conference. “I’m really thankful to be here, and my greatest hope for this Olympic Games, from a broader perspective, is that it is a beautiful show of cooperation and of competition.”