Back in 2018, figure skater Adam Rippon voiced his disapproval of then-Vice President Mike Pence heading the US delegation to the Pyeongchang Olympics, citing Pence’s history regarding LGBTQ+ rights. At that time, Rippon, who openly identified as gay in 2015, expressed that Pence does not “uphold anything that I genuinely believe in.”
Reflecting on the situation eight years onward, Rippon suggests that athletes speaking out about the Trump administration’s directives during the 2026 Games demands significantly more courage than it did less than a decade ago.
The ideological echo chamber is “a hundred times more amplified than it was during the initial Trump administration,” Rippon observes. Currently, he states, competitors could face severe repercussions for articulating their views on ICE’s operations or any other actions taken by the administration. Yet, by vocalizing their thoughts, they offer the global community an alternative perspective on how Americans truly feel about the nation’s policies.
In principle, he adds, the Olympics are “meant to be this politically neutral event, where all divisive issues are set aside and we can converge” to honor competitors from every corner of the world. “Well, that’s not the reality, is it?” Rippon queries. “I think that as an American nowadays, it’s inconceivable to imagine that politics aren’t inextricably linked to everything we undertake.”
Such declarations—and the spirited exchanges between athletes and unqualified critics—are magnified by social media.
What has transpired during the 2026 Winter Games aligns with occurrences at the Paris 2024 Summer Games, when victorious Algerian boxer Imane Khelif was propelled into a societal dispute over transgender individuals in sports, despite the fact that Khelif is not trans. Tracing back further, it evokes memories of the Mexico City Summer Games in 1968, wherein Black US athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos uplifted their clenched hands during their medal ceremony to underscore the fight for equality in America.
For Simone Driessen, this represents a logical development. An assistant professor of media and popular culture at Erasmus University Rotterdam, she considers athletes asserting their convictions to be predictable. Just as personalities like Taylor Swift have evolved into public voices, so too have athletes who achieve comparable renown during the Games. “It strongly parallels how the Super Bowl halftime show was already perceived as having political undertones before we even knew what Bad Bunny intended to do,” Driessen remarks.
The Bad Bunny comparison is fitting. Much like Glenn or erstwhile San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who initiated a protest by kneeling during the National Anthem to object to police brutality, he has offered his views freely. They’ve largely been deemed “contentious” because they run counter to the Trump administration and the MAGA agenda.
From their perspective, to be an outstanding American athlete or eminent entertainer necessitates conformity.
When athletes defy that expectation, it is seen as a triumph.
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