US women’s ice hockey captain responds to ‘distasteful’ Trump remark

Hilary Knight, captain of the victorious US women’s Olympic ice hockey team, said Wednesday it was unfortunate that a “distasteful joke” by President Donald Trump had overshadowed the achievements of US athletes at the Milan-Cortina Games.

The US men’s ice hockey team took a congratulatory call from Trump as they celebrated their gold medal victory over Canada. The president invited them to his State of the Union address and added he would have to ask the triumphant women’s team as well or risk being “impeached”.

The women’s side later declined an invitation from Trump to be on hand for the speech Tuesday night.

“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,” Knight, a five-time Olympic medallist, said on ESPN’s Sportscentre.

Several players on the men’s team appeared to laugh at Trump’s comment, sparking criticism. But Knight said the men’s and women’s national teams were very supportive of each other.

“I think there’s a genuine level of support there and respect,” she said. “I think that’s being overshadowed by a quick lapse.