Female Olympians take gold in showing class

For a bunch of gold-medalists, the U.S. men’s hockey team sure acted like a bunch of losers.

In the locker room after their Olympic win against Canada in Milan, Team USA was getting its drink on with FBI director Kash Patel, who was there for some reason. He rang up U.S. President Donald Trump and put him on speakerphone so he could congratulate the team and invite them to Tuesday’s State of the Union address.

“I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that. I do believe I probably would be impeached,” Trump said and was met with raucous laughter.

Jokes, historically, are supposed to be funny. This was more of a general sexist statement that wasn’t even phrased well. He sounded like a little boy apologizing for the fact his mom is making him invite the girls to his McDonald’s PlayPlace birthday party. He might as well have added “Ew, cooties!”

This, about gold medal-winning women who accomplished the same thing as the men.

Now, to be fair, I’d have maybe accepted a nervous titter or two from the players because they didn’t want to incur the wrath of a dictator. Who among us can honestly say they’ve never let out an awkward little “heh-heh” in response to a sad trombone of a joke in an effort to get a repugnant man to stop talking to them?

But this was full-throated laughter.

So many questions. Why was Patel even there and why was he, at one point, wearing one of the player’s medals? Why did they call Trump? Why is there video evidence of this shameful display where everyone looks bad? Why aren’t these players angrier that these dudes ruined this moment — the first U.S. gold medal in men’s hockey since Lake Placid in 1980 — for them?

The answer is that most of them probably see nothing wrong with any of this. Twenty of them went to the White House in their little USA sweaters.

Women, who play and watch hockey, by the way, are tired of being told stuff like this is not a big deal. That it’s just a joke. That it’s just “locker-room talk,” a phrase with which Trump has a long and troubling relationship.

Recall what he said in 2016 when that Access Hollywood tape containing the phrase heard ’round the world — “grab ’em by the pussy” — came out.

“Yes, I’m very embarrassed by it. I hate it. But it’s locker-room talk, and it’s one of those things.”

Now he’s a two-term president making sexist comments in arguably the biggest locker room in sport, and the players laughed and laughed. And people will say it’s one of those things.

But you know what? Enough about them. Let’s focus on the women, the real MVPs of these Olympics. Such as Alysa Liu, the American gold medal-winning figure skater who came out of retirement and showed the world what doing things on your own terms can look like.

Or Eileen Gu, the American-born freestyle skier repping China who laughed at a male reporter’s inane question about whether she thought her medals are “two silvers gained or two golds lost” and pointed out that she is the most decorated freestyle skier in history.

Or Team Canada ice dancer Piper Gilles who, along with her partner Paul Poirier, took home a bronze (their first Olympic medals) after a few years of incredible personal challenges, including ovarian cancer.

Or the Canadian women’s hockey team, who may have lost the gold but won the hearts and minds of so many hockey-playing girls in this country who look up to them.

Or Team USA bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor, who won her first gold medal at the age of 41.

Or Hilary Knight, the captain of the U.S. women’s hockey team who made it clear to reporters it was not her responsibility to “explain someone else’s behaviour” when asked about the men’s team.

Her team, by the way, classily declined Trump’s invitation.

The boys, meanwhile, went to the White House and ate McDonald’s, and you know those burgers were cold. Revenge best served and all that.

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