united states team

American freeskier Hunter Hess came to the end of his successful Olympic halfpipe qualifying career and then leaned into the camera. He bent his left thumb and index finger into an “L” shape, raised them to his forehead, and pointed at them with his other hand.

“Apparently,” he explained, “I’m a loser.”

The 27-year-old I received that label from President Trump at the start of the Games after skiers were asked at a press conference how they felt representing the country during the Trump administration’s heightened immigration enforcement actions. Hesse He said that representing The United States “provokes mixed emotions” and is “a little tough.”

“I just think that if it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I’m representing it. Just because I’m carrying the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s happening in America,” he said. “So yeah, I just want to do it for my friends, my family and the people who supported me to get here.”

Trump lashed out at the comments on TruthSocial, calling the Olympic skier “a real loser” and saying that “it’s a shame” Hess is on the Olympic team.

“It’s very difficult to support someone like that,” Trump added.

After finally reaching the starting gate on Friday, Hess nailed his qualifying runs. He became one of four Americans to qualify for the 12-man final. Each has a chance to give the U.S. team its first gold medal during nearly two weeks of skiing and snowboarding at Livigno Snow Park.

Hess said he had used the episode with Mr. Trump as motivation to succeed.

“I worked very hard to be here. I sacrificed my entire life to make this happen,” Hess said. “I’m not going to let a controversy like that get in my way. I love the United States of America. I can’t say it enough. In my original statement, I felt like I said that, but apparently, people didn’t take it that way. I’m very happy to be here, very happy to represent Team USA.”

Hess said the incident led to threats against his family. He also said training for the playoffs was difficult amid the storm.

“I had a week that was pretty challenging,” he said. “Thankfully, my family was there to support me and help me get through this. There was a lot of noise and I’ve never been the target of that kind of criticism. Skiing has saved my life time and time again and it seems to have done it again.”

“There’s been a lot of hate out there,” Hess added. “All those people have a lot of right to their opinion and I respect that.”

Ultimately, though, Hess said he had no doubts about what he said at that fateful Feb. 6 press conference. The message, he insisted, was really a message of support.

“I agree with what I said. I love the United States of America. I can’t reiterate that enough. It means the world to me to be able to represent Team USA here. I worked very, very hard to get here. I stand by what I said.”