The 232 Americans competing at the Winter Games have trained for years, traveled thousands of miles, and are ready to give their best on the ice and the slopes. Yet, politics is inevitably intruding on their Olympic moment.
The competition opened after a year marked by the Trump administration denigrating Europe, threatening allies, and launching a trade war. Opposition to President Trump’s policies, both abroad and at home, has followed the U.S. team to northern Italy, compelling athletes, coaches, and American fans to either confront or sidestep the resulting backlash.
Some of this opposition was evident during the opening ceremony in Milan on Friday night. Jeers and boos echoed through San Siro stadium when Vice President JD Vance was briefly shown on huge screens as the U.S. team paraded in, waving American flags.
Initially, Phillip DiGuglielmo, who coaches U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu and was seated in the stands, believed the boos were directed at the athletes.
“It was supposed to be the pinnacle of my life to see my athlete walk into the stadium, but it turned into a really sad moment for me,” said Mr. DiGuglielmo, whose grandparents immigrated to the United States from Italy. “I felt like, hey, the athletes don’t deserve this.”
Later, he learned that the boos were for Mr. Vance. Still, he worried that some athletes might have heard the jeers instead of the applause.
Zach Werenski, a defenseman on the U.S. hockey team, was in the stadium but only later saw news of the boos on social media. Earlier that day, he had met Mr. Vance. “He’s a proud American and he wants all the athletes here to show well for our country and that’s our goal,” Mr. Werenski said.
A spectator at a figure skating event in Milan on Saturday held a banner of the United States flag with a message of apology.
Mr. Werenski stated he wouldn’t let politics distract him in the rink. “I just try and block all that out,” he said.
The International Olympic Committee portrays the Games as neutral ground where athletes can compete “without being held back by the politics or divisions of their governments,” Kirsty Coventry, the I.O.C. president, said at the opening ceremony.
However, athletes, proudly displaying their countries’ colors and emblems, inherently become symbols of their nations’ values. This dynamic forces Americans in Italy to grapple with the sentiments evoked by Trump administration policies.
Last week, news that investigative agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would join a State Department security team at the Olympics sparked anger from Italians, who were outraged over similar actions by federal agents in Minneapolis. At a protest involving several hundred people on Friday, some demonstrators displayed a large anti-ICE banner declaring, “Milan despises you.”
The controversy led American figure skating, hockey, and speedskating federations to swiftly rename a hospitality venue for athletes in Milan from “Ice House” to “Winter House.”
Inside the rechristened venue on Saturday, Annie White, the chief marketing officer for U.S. Figure Skating, commented that she never “thought the surface we skate on would potentially become a polarizing word.”
Jeers and boos could be heard as Vice President JD Vance appeared on huge screens just as the delegation of athletes from the U.S. paraded onto the stadium floor.
Mr. Vance, who traveled to Italy with his wife and children, met with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday but publicly avoided political discussions during his visit. He and his family attended a figure skating team event in Milan, where Evan Lysacek, a 2010 Olympic champion skater traveling with the vice president, noted that Mr. Vance’s daughter enjoyed the fashion, and his two sons “mostly wanted to make sure that America is going to win.”
By Sunday morning, no member of the U.S. team in Italy had publicly expressed support for the Trump administration. U.S. Olympic committee guidelines state that athletes can advocate for social and racial justice but should avoid partisan politics.
Still, many American Olympians have faced questions about what it feels like to represent the United States.
“I just stay focused on the fact that there are a lot of really good people at home who I am proud to represent,” Summer Britcher, a luger from New York competing in her fourth Olympics, said in an interview last week inside the Olympic Village in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Asked a similar question by a Norwegian journalist at a news conference in Cortina on Saturday, skier Mikaela Shiffrin, a three-time Olympic medalist, paused for a few seconds.
Ms. Shiffrin affirmed it was “an honor and privilege” to compete for her country. She then read from prepared remarks quoting Nelson Mandela, emphasizing her desire to represent “values of inclusivity, values of diversity and kindness.”
Some competitors are using their platform to champion their politics. “I know that a lot of people say you’re just an athlete, like, stick to your job, shut up about politics, but politics affect us all,” Amber Glenn, the three-time U.S. national figure skating champion, told reporters on Wednesday.
When questioned about the Trump administration’s policies toward L.G.B.T.Q. Americans, Ms. Glenn, who is pansexual, declared, “It is something that I will not just be quiet about.”
Skier Lindsey Vonn, a three-time Olympic medalist, was asked by a Canadian journalist on Tuesday about “everything going on in Minnesota.” She responded that the state is “where I grew up, and my heart is incredibly heavy for everyone at home.” She added: “We are more than what’s happening right now.”
A protest on Friday in Milan.
Prominent Trump supporters have taken note of these comments. Richard Grenell, the Trump-appointed president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, shared a video on X of American skier Hunter Hess expressing “mixed emotions” about representing the United States. “Move to Canada if you aren’t proud to wear USA,” Mr. Grenell wrote.
The Games’ Italian hosts, no strangers to their own turbulent politics, seem willing to extend the athletes the benefit of the doubt. “We look at the United States with real, great concern,” said Barbara Barile, 57, who attended the opening ceremony in Milan. “We must distinguish between those who govern and those who are governed.”
Skepticism of the United States is not new in Italy. Despite strong connections to the U.S., a vein of “anti-Americanism has been here for a long time,” said Gregory Alegi, a historian at Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome.
The Italian political right “has never forgiven the U.S. for defeating Mussolini,” he said, and on the left, “they’ve never forgiven the U.S. for winning the Cold War.”
Ms. Meloni’s supporters appreciate her efforts to maintain a close relationship with Mr. Trump. However, the recent actions by ICE agents in Minneapolis have united Italians against that particular aspect of the U.S. administration’s policies.
At a team figure skating event on Saturday night, many American flags waved from the stands. Yet, some American spectators, anticipating a backlash, had initially come to Italy intending to conceal their national identity.
Helen Wehner and her brother Andrew decided not to bring any American flag gear to the Games. But soon after they arrived, Ms. Wehner began to reconsider.
“Once you’re here you see that it’s really about the athletes,” she said. “I want the athletes to see they have some support.”
At a curling event on Friday in Cortina, the Wehners allowed an American volunteer to paint the stars and stripes on their cheeks.