United States won 33 medals at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, 18 golds, including both in ice hockey, for men's and women's teams, defeating neighbours Canada in both cases. Donald Trump personally called the men's team to congratulate them, and said that he would have to ask their female counterparts as well or he "probably would be impeached".
The discriminatory and sexist joke by Trump led to obvious criticism to the US President but also to the men's team, after some players laughed at Trump's remarks. When the women's team finally received an invitation to attend Trump's State of the Union speech in Washington DC on Tuesday, they declined.
Now, the ice hockey captain Hilary Knight has slammed Trump for his comments, but defended their male counterparts. "It was sort of a distasteful joke, and unfortunately that is overshadowing a lot of the success, the success of just women at the Olympics carrying for Team USA and having amazing gold medal feats", Knight told ESPN.
"Women aren't less than, and their achievements shouldn't be overshadowed by anything else other than how great they are", Knight added, hoping that this controversy will become "a good learning point to really focus on how we talk about we women, not only in sport but in industry".
Finally, Knight defended the men's ice hockey team despite the laughs at Trump's joke, saying they were in a tough spot, and that they have received genuine level of support and respect, "being overshadowed by a quick lapse".