Excellence, Friendship, Respect

The 2026 Winter Olympics have begun. I won't be watching.

The Olympics have begun. I won’t be watching. I can’t. The Olympics are about setting aside politics to celebrate the human spirit. This year, as my country struggles against authoritarianism, I find it impossible to set aside politics and difficult to celebrate a human spirit which has Americans shooting Americans over their own political differences. I don’t know what landing a triple axel adds to that conversation.

Don’t misunderstand: I am incredibly proud of our Olympic athletes. I just wish they didn’t have to stand atop a podium, hand over heart, listening to a national anthem whose words speak of a young nation standing united against attack. Now the nation is older and the attacks are being directed by the government against her own children. I am no more capable of rooting for American success during the Olympics of 2026 than I would be rooting for German success in 1936.

A poster for the 1936 Winter Olympic Games.

In past years, I would happily root for Cuban athletes or Soviet athletes or Chinese athletes. Whatever their personal political beliefs, I could root for their athleticism and our shared humanity. Now, though, the success of Americans on the Olympic stage hurts too much because the flag affixed to their puffy jackets is my own. Their success brings glory to Old Glory. Their victories are personally monumental but nationally hollow. How do I cheer on the return of the ageless Mikhaela Shiffrin when every medal she earns brings renown to a nation currently deserving none?

Whether we wish to or not, it’s impossible to disentangle the Games from politics. The IOC itself is both big business and a political entity, one plagued by scandal after scandal: bid-rigging, drug violations, bribery. In years past, I was able to look past all that because I (perhaps naively) felt my home nation largely adhered to the spirt of the Games.

I like that so many of our athletes had day jobs. I like that most of them are everyday Americans with incredible talents at obscure sports. The American Olympic Curling Team, for example, is composed of an engineer, a lab tech, and a cellist – among others. I so want them to do well. Just not this year.

Perhaps that makes me stingy with my affections. I accept the charge. Or, rather, my affections exceed the bounds of Olympic competition. My affections reside more with the Olympic ideals more than with its individual athletes. These are their stated ideals: Excellence, Friendship, and Respect. I used to think those were American ideals, too.

Excellence we have in spades. Americans are f’ing great at random stuff. You want to deep fry a Twinkee? We’ll get ‘er done. You need a Lego Death Star? We got you, dawg. Americans excel at random stuff. Launching oneself off a 22 foot Olympic halfpipe is pretty random, but also pretty freaking awesome. So yeah, excellence we’ve got on lock.

Friendship?

While I’m sure the Olympic Village is chockablock with extras from Heated Rivalry forming “friendships” all over the place, the nation our American hotties represent has spent the entire last year alienating every other nation on the planet. For the first time in our history, America has turned its back on friendship, preferring the heavy stick to the outstretched hand.

And respect? Respect?!?

Let’s not that conversation right now about a nation that doesn’t respect even its own Constitution.

For most of my life, I thought of the Olympics as an extension of the American spirit. Maybe I was more correct than I knew. The Olympics, like America, are about big money. They’re about leveraging their youth for political advantage and, often, personal gratification.

The Epstein Files have taught me (anew) that blatant corruption and abuse are more than tolerated among the American and global elite. When a single scandal ensnares celebrities, sultans, scientists, royalty of several nations, and two American presidents, I’m forced to consider whether Epstein was an outlier or merely Exhibit A.

Exhibit B is the USA Gymnastics scandal, a multi-decade affair which saw the team physician, Larry Nassar, convicted of sexually abusing more than 500 athletes. Much of that abuse occurred under the less-than-watchful eye of the celebrated coaches Béla and Márta Károlyi whose harsh training methods – including physical abuse and food restriction - brought Olympic glory. So what exactly were we celebrating when those incredible young women held their medals aloft? What are we - all of us - willing to trade for the fame and riches Olympic medals bring? Among the high-profile, “prestige” events, the answer seems to be, “anything.”

The Olympics, like America, are big money. At their best, both elevate the human spirit. Both are meant to celebrate hard work, sacrifice, and personal strength. Over the years, I’ve heard athlete after athlete talk about what the pride they feel representing their countries. I get it. I want all of them to celebrate where they came from and the people who made their journeys possible. I celebrate those things, too. But the Olympics aren’t some regional spelling bee. Countries anchor their national pride to their medal counts. I cannot root for American national pride this year. I hope to, again, one day soon.

To those saying to root for individual American athletes, I hear you but I can’t disentangle the athlete from the flag on their Ralph Lauren-designed outfits. As much as I would like to, I simply can’t tease out the personal from the politics. I wish I could. Good luck to all the athletes. Congratulations on this incredible achievement. Congratulations on seeing a lifelong dream fulfilled. I only wish this nation, this beautiful and ruptured and decadent nation, were worthy of that dream.