US hockey captain Hilary Knight breaks silence on Trump's 'sexist' joke
Team USA women's hockey team captain, Hilary Knight, has addressed United States President Donald Trump's 'sexist' joke about her squad.
Over the weekend (22 February), the US won the men's Olympic ice hockey gold medal for the first time in 46 years, beating Canada 2-1.
The women's team also took home the gold medal with a 2-1 victory against Canada on Thursday (19 February).
However, such victories have seemingly since been overshadowed by a now-viral clip of what went down during the men's locker room winning celebration.
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The footage in question shows FBI Director Kash Patel chugging a bottle of beer and holding up a phone as Trump called to congratulate the team on their success.
The 79-year-old Republican can be heard offering to fly the team to Washington for Tuesday’s (24 February) State of the Union address.
"We’re giving the State of the Union speech on Tuesday night. I could send a military plane or something, if you would like to. It’s the coolest night. It’s the biggest speech," he said over speakerphone to cheers and shouts of 'we’re in'.
Trump then made what Knight has now called a 'distasteful' comment about the women's team.
"And we have to - I must tell you - we’re going to have to bring the women’s team," he said as several team members laughed on, before Trump concluded: "[If I don’t] do that, I do believe I probably would be impeached, OK?"
This is the same women's team who have secured the most gold medals for the United States for three Olympic seasons in a row, and, since 1998, they have never ever missed the podium.
The men's victory on Sunday was their first gold medal in over four decades, since 1980.
Outrage was sparked following Trump's 'misogynist' remarks and the team's reaction to them, but Knight has now broken her silence on the matter after the women's team declined the invitation from Trump to attend his address on Tuesday.
"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," the team spokesperson said in a statement.
"Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games, the athletes are unable to participate. They were honoured to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgement."
Trump later claimed the team 'will soon be coming to the White House', but their own stance remains fairly non-committal.
"Players are back competing with their professional and collegiate teams and are in the midst of their season," a spokesperson told Front Office Sports. "They’re honoured and grateful to be invited, and any opportunity to visit the White House as a team will be based on their schedules once their seasons conclude."
The men's team attended, but five players were absent, citing games the following day as the reason.
Speaking on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Wednesday (25 February), Knight said: "I thought it was sort of a distasteful joke, 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.
"We're just focusing on celebrating the women in our room, the extraordinary efforts, and continuing 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," Knight said. "And really not detract from that with a distasteful joke."
She then maintained that there is still a mutual respect between the women's and men's hockey squads.
"I think there's a genuine level of support there and respect," the athlete 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 have kind of blown up and overshadowed that connection and genuine interest in one another and cheering each other on," Knight added.
Topics: US News, News, Sport, Olympics, Donald Trump, Politics
Rhiannon Ingle