Olympic gold medalist Hilary Knight has weighed in on President Donald Trump’s reaction to the U.S. women’s ice hockey team’s triumphant win.
The U.S. team beat Canada for the gold medal in last Thursday’s Olympic women’s hockey final in Italy. Their male counterparts won gold on Sunday, also victorious against Canada.
FBI director Kash Patel, who was boozing it up and celebrating with the men’s team after their win, called Trump, who promptly invited the players to be his guests at Tuesday’s State of the Union address.
“I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team,” Trump said. “You do know that. I do believe I probably would be impeached [if the women’s team wasn’t invited].”
Several of the male players were captured laughing at Trump’s comments in a viral video.
Five-time Olympic medalist Knight shared her thoughts on Trump’s gendered remarks when appearing on SportsCenter on Wednesday.
“I thought it was sort of a distasteful joke,” Knight said. “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 added, “We’re just focusing on celebrating the women in our room, the extraordinary efforts, and continue to celebrate three gold medals in program history as well as the double gold for both men’s and women’s at the same time. And really not detract from that with a distasteful joke.”
Later in the interview, she said she was focused on “celebrating all great things that have come out of the Olympics and feeling the love and support and getting back in our respective communities and sharing this journey with them. And that’s what this is all about.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Two of Knight’s teammates also weighed on Trump’s jokes about their victory. Caroline Harvey told TMJ4 News on Wednesday that they were concentrating on their success, not the president’s comments.
“It’s not something we’re focused on or really thinking about,” she said of the contents of Trump’s call.
“We are moving forward. We did what we did there, and we are proud of our group.”
Teammate Laila Edwards added, “What happened is something we had no control over. We take so much pride in what we did. We love our group and we are not going to let anything take that from us.”
The women’s Winter Olympics hockey team declined Trump’s invitation to join the State of the Union address.
“We are sincerely grateful for the invitation extended to our gold medal–winning U.S. Women’s Hockey Team and deeply appreciate the recognition of their extraordinary achievement," a USA Hockey spokesperson said.
“Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games, the athletes are unable to participate.”
The male team did attend, however, with Trump gushing over them. During his speech, the president announced that Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He did not mention whether other players would also be receiving the honor.
“People are so negative about things,” Jack Hughes, who plays forward for Team USA, told reporters in Miami on Monday.
“I think everyone in that locker rooms knows how much we support them, how proud we are of them and we know the same way we feel about them, they feel about us,” he added.
His brother and teammate Quinn Hughes told Good Morning America on Tuesday, “We’re extremely happy for them,” while recognizing there was “a lot going on” in the media surrounding the women’s team and the men’s team. “In the last couple summers we did a lot of training with them and got to know a lot of those girls really well.”
The brothers’ mother, Ellen Weinberg-Hughes, serves as a player development consultant for the women’s team.
Knight agreed the feeling was mutual. “I think there’s a genuine level of support there and respect,” she said.
“I think that’s being overshadowed by a quick lapse. I think the guys were in a tough spot, so I think it’s a shame this storyline and narrative has kind of blown up and overshadowing that connection and genuine interest in one another and cheering each other on.”
