U.S. freestyle skierHunter Hess'Winter Olympicscome to an end on Friday with the freestyle skiing men's freeski halfpipe at the Livingo Snow Park
But before Hess competes in the medal round of the event, he flashed an "L" over his forehead at the end of his qualification run that was directed to PresidentDonald Trump,who called Hess a "real loser" on social mediafollowing his comments on how it is difficult to represent the United States at theWinter Olympicsdue to the country's current political division.
"Apparently I'm a loser," Hess said into the camera after his qualifying run,according to the Associated Press.
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Hess was one of four U.S. freestyle skiers to qualify for the 12-man final at the Livingo Snow Park on Friday evening.
"I worked so hard to be here. I sacrificed my entire life to make this happen,"Hess continued."I'm not going to let controversy like that get in my way. I love the United States of America. I cannot say that enough. My original statement, I felt like I said that, but apparently people didn't take it that way. I'm so happy to be here, so happy to represent Team USA."
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The first-time Olympian caughtTrump's attentionfollowing his comments during a news conference ahead of the opening ceremony, where he said "it's a little hard" to represent the United States on the Olympic stage.Hess' teammates,like the four-member women's halfpipe team led by three-time Olympic medalists Chloe Kim, discussed the current climate of the United States, but he was the only one got Trump to comment on Truth Social.
"There's obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of," Hess said at a news conference in Milan ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics. "Wearing the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that's going on in the U.S.
"I'm representing my friends and family back home, the people that represented it before me, all the things that I believe are good about the U.S. I just think if it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I'm representing it."
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Hunter Hess, USA skier, responds to Donald Trump calling him a loser
