{"id":82188,"date":"2026-02-10T09:03:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T14:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?p=82188"},"modified":"2026-02-17T13:00:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:00:21","slug":"women-olympic-athletes-voice-their-own-values-at-winter-games-milan-not-americas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/women-olympic-athletes-voice-their-own-values-at-winter-games-milan-not-americas\/","title":{"rendered":"Women Olympians Voice ‘Own Values’ at Winter Games in Milan\u2014Not America’s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Olympic
Olympic figure skater Amber Glenn received death threats on social media after her comments about the LGBTQ+ community under Trump went viral. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

American Olympians who slalom like pros on the slopes and perform expert layback spins on the ice are struggling with what it means to represent the U.S. during this political moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At press conferences during the Milan Cortina Games in Italy, many Olympic athletes did not mince words when they were asked about the Trump administration\u2019s practices to violently detain immigrants, especially in Minneapolis, where two people were killed by ICE.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a tough time in our country right now,\u201d said halfpipe skier Svea Irving, according to NPR<\/a>. Like many of her fellow athletes, Irving described it as separating her own moral code from the one the Trump administration espouses and that gets beamed out to the rest of the world. \u201cI just continue to represent my values,\u201d she added. \u201cCompassion and love and respect for others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mikaela Shiffrin, the top Alpine skier of all time, acknowledged to USA Today<\/a> the \u201chardship,\u201d \u201cheartbreak\u201d and \u201cviolence\u201d happening all over the world, \u201cwhich can be tough to reconcile \u2026 when you\u2019re also competing for medals in an Olympic event.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She shared a quote from Nelson Mandela about peace and said at her fourth Winter Olympics that she wants to put her “own values” of \u201cdiversity, kindness and sharing\u201d forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But perhaps one of the more difficult moments involved figure skater Amber Glenn, who experienced extreme backlash for speaking out for LGBTQ+ rights amid Trump\u2019s efforts to strip funding from and scale back diversity efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the Games even started, as she answered a question<\/a> about how Trump\u2019s drastic stance was affecting her as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, she said, \u201cIt\u2019s been a hard time for the community overall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIt isn’t the first time that we’ve had to come together as a community and try and fight for our human rights,\u201d added Glenn, who finished third in the women\u2019s singles free skate on Sunday. \u201cI think that we are able to support each other in a way that we didn’t have to before, and because of that, it’s made us a lot stronger.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She hoped to use her platform to encourage others “to stay strong in these hard times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But later, Glenn said she was shocked by the volume of nasty comments and death threats she received on social media in the wake of her comments, which prompted her to take a break from social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe the outlandish backlash I\u2019ve received for just supporting people,\u201d she said, according to The Athletic<\/a>. \u201cBut I\u2019m going to keep speaking my truth. I\u2019m gonna keep representing what I believe in and what I think all Americans believe in, which is freedom and being able to love and do what you want.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s a strange time to represent America abroad, as these Olympic athletes have learned at the Winter Games in Milan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":82267,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[{"did":"did:plc:l2n6ydtigm3gtra4vb4rfl7f","date":"2026-02-10T14:03:52+00:00","uri":"at:\/\/did:plc:l2n6ydtigm3gtra4vb4rfl7f\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mej4wvbpvy27","response":"{\"uri\":\"at:\/\/did:plc:l2n6ydtigm3gtra4vb4rfl7f\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mej4wvbpvy27\",\"cid\":\"bafyreihhqxzems3bds2jawdzqnbcffxqridyndckddokosr6fvt5du5tam\",\"commit\":{\"cid\":\"bafyreif6xf44v3mmlofltfai6i3vvsq7hfx2abxc3kaletkvprwxyerkja\",\"rev\":\"3mej4wvc3my27\"},\"validationStatus\":\"valid\"}"}],"autoblue_post_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[22243,20741,19514,20210,19485],"class_list":["post-82188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-happening-now","tag-athlete-activism","tag-lgbtq-rights","tag-olympics","tag-political-representation","tag-women-in-sports"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWomen 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