U.S. President Donald Trump has criticised American freestyle skier Hunter Hess after the athlete said he felt conflicted about representing the United States at the Winter Olympics in Italy, sparking a public clash that highlights growing political tensions surrounding the Games.
Trump took aim at Hess in a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, saying the skier should not have tried out for the U.S. team if he did not feel he represented the country.
“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. “Very hard to root for someone like this.”
The comments came days after Hess spoke candidly during a press conference in Milan, where he described having “mixed emotions” about representing the U.S. amid ongoing political developments at home.
“I think it brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now,” Hess said.
“It’s a little hard. There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of,” Hess added.
The skier stressed that his decision to compete was rooted in personal values rather than political alignment.
“For me it’s more that I’m representing my friends and family back home, the people that supported me getting here,” he said, adding that wearing the national flag did not mean he endorsed everything happening in the country.
Political tensions have surfaced at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics more broadly, including controversy over the presence of personnel from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The agency has faced widespread protests in the United States following the fatal shootings of two people in Minneapolis last month during enforcement operations.
The episode underscores how domestic political divisions in the United States are increasingly spilling onto the international sporting stage, even as athletes seek to focus on competition rather than controversy.
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The 13th session of the World Urban Forum concluded in Baku on 22 May after six days of discussions focused on housing, climate resilience, urban governance and social inclusion, bringing together tens of thousands of participants from around the world to shape the future of sustainable cities.
The 13th edition of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) held in Baku showed Azerbaijan’s “meaningful contribution to multilateralism,” the country’s President Ilham Aliyev has said.
SpaceX has completed a largely successful test flight of Starship V3, the largest and most powerful rocket in history.
The nomination of Russian-Armenian businessman Ruben Vardanyan for the 2026 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize has triggered criticism.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said Belarus will not be dragged into the war in Ukraine, while also stressing that Minsk and Moscow would jointly respond to any aggression against them.
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NATO fighter jets were activated on Thursday (21 May) after at least one drone entered Latvian airspace, according to Latvia’s armed forces, marking the latest in a series of security incidents across the Baltic region linked to the war in Ukraine.
A French appeals court has found Airbus and Air France guilty of corporate manslaughter over the 2009 Rio–Paris crash, marking a major development in a case that has stretched on for 17 years.
At least 90 miners have died in a gas explosion at a coal mine in northern China, in what is the country's deadliest mining accident in 17 years. The blast occurred on Friday at 19:29 local time (11:39 GMT) at the Liushenyu coal mine in Shanxi province, according to Chinese state media.
Start your day informed with the AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top stories for the 23rd May, covering the latest developments you need to know.
SpaceX has completed a largely successful test flight of Starship V3, the largest and most powerful rocket in history.
Ukraine’s military denied that it struck a student dormitory in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region on Friday (22 May).
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