CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 10 (Reuters) – Curler Rich Ruohonen became the latest U.S. athlete to weigh into domestic politics on Tuesday, condemning immigration sweeps in his home state of Minnesota that is a hotbed for the sport.
Various American athletes at the Winter Games have spoken out over events back home, with skier Hunter Hess labelled a “real loser” by an irritated U.S. President Donald Trump.
“I’d like to say I’m proud to be here to represent Team USA, and to represent our country. But we’d be remiss if we didn’t at least mention what’s going on in Minnesota,” said Ruohonen, a 54-year-old personal injury lawyer who works in Minnesota.
“What a tough time it’s been for everybody. This stuff is happening right around where we live,” he added in a statement at the end of a press conference.
Protests have been taking place around Minnesota after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents killed two U.S. citizens as part of Trump’s push against illegal immigration.
“I am a lawyer, as you know. We have a constitution, and it allows us freedom of speech,” Ruohonen went on. “It protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures. And makes it that we have to have probable cause to be pulled over. What’s happening in Minnesota is wrong. There’s no shades of grey. It’s clear.”
Minnesota is a curling stronghold in the U.S. and has produced a number of Olympic competitors including John Shuster, who skipped the men’s team to gold at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
Ruohonen, an alternate for the men’s team, said he was proud of the public expressions in his home.
“I really love what’s been happening there now. With people coming out, showing the love, the compassion, the integrity and respect for others that they don’t know, and helping them out,” he said.
“We love Minnesota for that … We love our country. We’re playing for the U.S. We’re playing for each other, we’re playing for our family and our friends that sacrificed so much to get here today.”
The Olympics, he said, embody the same values as those shown by compatriots in Minnesota. “What the Olympics means is excellence, respect, friendship. We all, I think, exemplify that. We are playing for the people of Minnesota and the people around the country who share those same values, that compassion, that love, and that respect.”