By Lisa Richwine
LIVIGNO, Italy, Feb 6 - American Olympic freestyle skiers said they hoped to showcase positive values at the Milano Cortina Winter Games at a time when protests over U.S. immigration enforcement have erupted at home and abroad.
Critics in Olympics host country Italy have rallied against the planned role of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel at the Games, a flashpoint amplified by the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens by ICE agents in Minneapolis.
A hard-left trade
union was planning an "ICE OUT" protest during Friday evening's Opening Ceremony.
Aerials specialist Chris Lillis, speaking in Milan on Friday morning, said he loved the U.S., would never want to ski for another country in the Olympics, but was "heartbroken" by recent events.
"I think that as a country, we need to focus on respecting everybody's rights and making sure that we're treating our citizens as well as anybody with love and respect," the 27-year-old said.
"I hope that when people look at athletes competing in the Olympics, they realize that's the America that we're trying to represent."
Asked what it means to wear Team USA gear and the American flag, 27-year-old Hunter Hess said it brought up mixed emotions.
"It's a little hard. There's obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren't," Hess said. "Just because I'm wearing the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that's going on in the U.S."
Hess said he felt he was representing friends and family and "all the things I believe are good about the U.S."
In a sign of renewed sensitivities, U.S. officials changed the name of a shared hospitality space for USA Hockey, U.S. Figure Skating and U.S. Speedskating, in Milan from "Ice House" to "Winter House."
'OLYMPICS REPRESENTS PEACE'
Members of the freestyle skiing team said they wanted to support unity and connection.
"The Olympics represents peace," said freestyle star Alex Ferreira. "So let's not only bring world peace, but domestic peace within our country as well, hopefully."
Nick Goepper, 31, said "our country's been having issues for 250 years."
"I'm here to uphold classic American values of respect, opportunity, freedom, and equality and project those to the world," he added.
Abby Winterberger, a 15-year-old freestyle skier at her first Olympics, said she was there to honor "all the people in the community that brought us all here."
"Just representing all the good parts," she said.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine;Additional reporting by Giulia Segreti;Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
