U.S. free skier Hunter Hess’ Winter Olympics came to an end on Friday, Feb. 20 with the men’s freeski halfpipe at the Livigno Snow Park.
But before Hess competed in the medal round of the event, he flashed an ‘L’ over his forehead at the end of his qualification run that was directed to President Donald Trump, who called Hess a ‘real loser’ on social media following Hess’ comments about how it is difficult to represent the United States at the Winter Olympics due to the country’s current political division.
‘Apparently I’m a loser,’ Hess said into the camera after his qualifying run.
Hess was one of four U.S. free skiers who qualified for the 12-man final at the Livigno Snow Park on Friday evening. He posted a best score of 85.00 with his second qualifying run, which was a 2.25-point improvement from his first run.
He finished 10th in the finals with his best score coming in at 58.75 in his third run.
‘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.’
The first-time Olympian caught Trump’s attention following his comments during a news conference ahead of the opening ceremony, where he said ‘it’s a little hard’ to represent the United States on the Olympic stage. Hess’ teammates, like the four-member women’s halfpipe team led by three-time Olympic medalist Chloe Kim, discussed the current climate of the United States, but he was the only one who got Trump to lash out on Truth Social.
‘There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of,’ Hess said at a news conference in Milan ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics. ‘Wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S. I’m representing my friends and family back home, the people that represented it before me, all the things that I believe are good about the U.S. I just think if it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I’m representing it.’
Following his gold medal win in the event, Hess’ teammate, Alex Ferreira, told reporters in Livingo that he stands by his teammate when asked about Hess’ gesture during his qualifying run.
‘I stand by my teammate,’ Ferreira said.
As noted by The Athletic, Hess also updated his Instagram profile, adding ‘a real loser’ to his bio.
Friday’s event ends a 12-day stretch where Hess had to sit around and continue training for his event before he could compete in the Olympics following Trump’s comments. He called the layoff ‘the hardest two weeks’ of his life.
‘It was probably the hardest two weeks of my life,’ Hess said. ‘I’ve never been subject to that type of criticism before.’
He added, according to Yahoo Sports: ‘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 type of criticism. But with my family’s help, I was able to get through it. And skiing has saved my life, time and time again, and it seems to have done so again.’
This story has been updated with new information.
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