American freeskier Hunter Hess got to the end of his successful run in Olympic halfpipe qualifying, then leaned into the camera. He bent his left thumb and forefinger into the shape of an "L," lifted it to his forehead and pointed at it with the other hand.

"Apparently," he explained, "I'm a loser."

The 27-year-old received that label from President Trump at the start of the Games after skiers were asked at a news conference how they felt representing the country during the Trump administration's heightened immigration enforcement actions. Hess said that representing the U.S. "brings up mixed emotions" and is "a little hard."

"I just think, if it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I'm representing it. Just because I'm wearing the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that's going on in the U.S.," he said. "So yeah, I just kind of want to do it like for my friends and my family and the people that supported me getting here."

Mr. Trump lashed out at the comments on TruthSocial, calling the Olympic skier "a real Loser" and saying that "it's too bad" Hess is on the Olympic team.

"Very hard to root for someone like this," Mr. Trump added.

After finally getting in the starting gate on Friday, Hess nailed his qualifying runs. He became one of four Americans to qualify for the 12-man final. Each has a chance to give the U.S. team its first gold medal over nearly two weeks of skiing and snowboarding at the Livigno Snow Park.

Hess said he had used the episode with Mr. Trump as motivation to succeed.

"I worked so hard to be here. I sacrificed my entire life to make this happen," Hess said. "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."

Hess said that the incident led to threats against his family. He also said that training for the qualifiers was difficult amid the firestorm.

"I had a week that was pretty challenging," he said. "Luckily, my family was there to support me and help me get through it. There was a lot of noise and I've 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."

"There's been a lot of hate out there," Hess added. "All those people are super entitled to their opinion, and I respect it."

Ultimately, though, Hess 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.

"I 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."


Hunter Hess of Team competes in the men's freeski halfpipe qualifiers on day at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games Michael Reaves / Getty Images

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