{"id":604401,"date":"2026-02-20T22:27:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T22:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/604401\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T22:27:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T22:27:11","slug":"hunter-hess-flashes-an-l-sign-says-he-stands-by-his-statement-loves-the-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/604401\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunter Hess flashes an ‘L’ sign, says he stands by his statement, loves the USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) \u2014 American freeskier Hunter Hess got to the end of his successful run in Olympic<\/a> halfpipe qualifying, then leaned into the camera. He bent his left thumb and forefinger into the shape of an \u201cL,\u201d lifted it to his forehead and pointed at it with the other hand. <\/p>\n

\u201cApparently,\u201d he explained, \u201cI\u2019m a loser.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old who received that label<\/a> from U.S. President Donald Trump at the start of the Olympics \u2014 leading to threats to his family and setting off the first major political imbroglio of the Games<\/a> \u2014 finally got in the starting gate Friday. Fired up after nailing his first run, he flashed the \u201cL\u201d sign, then explained he has used the entire episode as motivation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked so hard to be here. I sacrificed my entire life to make this happen,\u201d Hess said. \u201cI\u2019m 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\u2019t take it that way. I\u2019m so happy to be here, so happy to represent Team USA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hess was one of four Americans to qualify for the 12-man final, where Alex Ferreira\u2019s victory gave the U.S. team its first gold medal over nearly two weeks of skiing and snowboarding at the Livigno Snow Park. <\/p>\n

During a news conference at the start of the Games, skiers were asked how they felt representing the country during the Trump administration\u2019s heightened immigration enforcement actions back home. <\/p>\n

Hess\u2019 response: \u201cIf it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I\u2019m representing it. Just because I\u2019m wearing the flag doesn\u2019t mean I represent everything that\u2019s going on in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n

That caught Trump\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cHess, a real Loser, says he doesn\u2019t represent his Country in the current Winter Olympics. If that\u2019s the case, he shouldn\u2019t have tried out for the Team, and it\u2019s too bad he\u2019s on it,\u201d Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.<\/p>\n

After a few days, that died down. The freeskiers, placed on the back end of the Olympic schedule, retreated to Laax, Switzerland, for a week of training. Hess conceded it wasn\u2019t the easiest time. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had a week that was pretty challenging,\u201d he said. \u201cLuckily, my family was there to support me and help me get through it. There was a lot of noise and I\u2019ve never been subject to that kind of criticism. Skiing has saved my life time and time again and it seems to have done so again.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of hate out there. All those people are super entitled to their opinion, and I respect it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, though, he said he had no second thoughts about what he said in that fateful Feb. 6 news conference. The message, he insisted, was really a message of support.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stand with what I said. I love the United States of America. I cannot reiterate that enough. It means the absolute world to me to be able to represent Team USA here. I worked so, so hard to get here. I stick with what I said.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hess backed by American gold medalist<\/p>\n

Hess didn\u2019t speak to reporters after Friday night\u2019s final, when he finished 10th. Ferreira\u2019s victory completed his medal collection<\/a> after winning silver and bronze at previous Games.<\/p>\n

When asked about Hess, Ferreira said he supported him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHunter is a member of our team. He is a great guy, who works super hard,\u201d Ferreira said. \u201dI guess anyone who feels otherwise can feel that, but I stand by my teammate.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Winter Olympics: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) \u2014 American freeskier Hunter Hess got to the end of his successful run in Olympic…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":604402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[224667,191963,260039,12785,84,69,44831,6065,212,80,197820,62,67,259168,132,68,75618],"class_list":["post-604401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-2026-milan-cortina-olympic-games","tag-2026-winter-olympics","tag-alex-ferreira","tag-dc-wire","tag-district-of-columbia","tag-donald-trump","tag-olympic-games","tag-or-state-wire","tag-oregon","tag-politics","tag-snowboarding","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-olympic-team","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-winter-olympic-games"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116105317373242464","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}