The Olympics and Politics Are More Intertwined Than Ever. Maybe That’s a Good Thing
Back in 2018, figure skater Adam Rippon objected to then vice president Mike Pence leading the US delegation to the Olympics in Pyeongchang, citing Pence’s track record on LGBTQ+ rights. At the time, Rippon, who came out as gay in 2015, said Pence doesn’t “stand for anything that I really believe in.” Reflecting on it eight years later, Rippon says athletes speaking out about the Trump administration’s policies during the 2026 Games takes a lot more bravery than it did less than a decade ago. The echo chamber is “a hundred times louder than it was during the first Trump administration,” Rippon says. Now, he says, athletes could face real repercussions for speaking out about ICE’s activities or anything else the administration is doing. But by speaking up, they’re giving the world a different view of how Americans feel about the country’s policies. Theoretically, he adds, the Olympics are “supposed to be this apolitical event, where everything gets put to the side and we can come together” to celebrate athletes from everywhere. “Well, it’s not, …
