Will Winter Games Bring Same Summer Selfishness? "The Olympic goal is to channel nationalism in ways that inspire peace and good sportsmanship, not serve as a forum to stoke the flames of social and political discord.".

• Author: Emord, Jonathan W.
• Position: ATHLETIC ARENA

WHEN AMERICAN athletes arrive at the Olympics for Team USA, they appear not as individuals, but as champions representing the nation in competition. As such, they have a solemn national responsibility that exceeds their individuality, that is greater than themselves. To fulfill that responsibility, they temporarily must lay aside whatever grievances they have and support the emblems of the nation that has sent them.

Any act of dishonor toward the U.S., its flag, or its anthem breaches that responsibility and causes them no longer to be worthy of serving as representatives of the nation. In the moment of dishonor, they become but mere individual athletes again, ones who may not rightfully claim to have acted on behalf of our nation in Olympic competition. This selfishness was on full display at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo; will the same be true in a few months when the Winter Olympics take place in Beijing?

Last summer, U.S. hammer thrower Gwen Berry raised a fist in one competition and turned away from the American flag during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner." The U.S. women's soccer team took a knee on the field before its opening match against Sweden. U.S. shot-putter Raven Saunders raised crossed arms in an X while on the medal podium. (Saunders said the X symbolized "the intersection of where all people who are oppressed meet.") U.S. fencer Race Imboden posted a picture of himself with a circled X on his hand while posing with his bronze medal.

The Games afford each participating country the opportunity to showcase its greatest athletic assets, enabling those individuals to compete in fair sport under the flag of their nation for the title of Olympic champion. The people of each nation thus experience a unique bond with their athletes because they come to the Olympics to sacrifice courageously in an all-out effort to win medals for the glory of their countries, whose emblems will fly and anthems will play when the coveted medals are awarded.

The Olympic goal is to channel nationalism in ways that inspire peace and good sportsmanship, not serve as a forum to stoke the flames of social and political discord. By dishonoring the American flag and the nation through acts of protest on the Olympic stage, the protesting athletes have lost any claim to represent the U.S.

While they may perceive they have a right to voice their political views (and surely they do), they misapprehend their role at the Olympics. The enormous loss in...