USA TODAY International Edition
Diverse athletes make America great
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea – This is what America’s best self looks like.
It’s one child of immigrants standing atop the Olympic podium, proudly holding an American flag aloft. It’s another unleashing a wave of pride by doing something no other U.S. woman has ever done. It’s an openly gay man helping clinch one of the country’s first medals in Pyeongchang.
We’re a better country because of our many differences, and we can thank Chloe Kim, Mirai Nagasu and Adam Rippon for reminding us of that in the first few days of these Olympic Games.
“The dream came true. The American dream!” Jong Jin Kim said, letting out a whoop after his daughter won halfpipe gold in the country where he was born.
Our country has become increasingly small-minded under the delusion that exclusion will somehow make America great. It won’t. It makes us meaner and crueler and, worse, it betrays one of the very pillars of our country’s foundation.
The United States is supposed to be the land of opportunity, with no asterisks attached. If you work hard and dream big, it should not matter whether you are black, white or brown, gay or straight, male or female.
It’s not that simple, of course, and we have a long way to go until all Americans are, truly, equal. But it’s a goal that remains worth striving for, now more than ever.
The U.S. Olympic team in Pyeongchang is not a perfect reflection of our country. It is still overwhelmingly white, with only 11 athletes of Asian heritage and 10 black athletes among the 243 competing. Rippon and Gus Kenworthy are the only openly gay athletes on the team.
But it gives a glimpse of why America has been a beacon of hope for almost 250 years.
The U.S. Olympians come from 31 states, from Alaska to Florida. Several have parents who were born in other countries, and one is an immigrant herself. Some have spouses from other countries; others have siblings born outside America.
They are a melting pot, like the country they represent.
“I think it sends out a strong message when there is a team that has a good cross section of ethnicities,” two-time bobsled medalist Elana Meyers Taylor, who is black, told USA TODAY. “If there is a child watching and they don’t see anyone that looks like them, it creates a little mental barrier.”
Barriers. We need fewer of them, not more.
President Trump promotes a vision of America that is not only bigoted but ignorant. The hatred directed at blackand brown-skinned immigrants is no different from what Italians, Irish and, yes, even those Norwegians Trump prizes so much heard a century ago. The gains made by women and the LGBTQ community are now so knitted into the fabric of our society they will not be unraveled.
(By the way, those “s------- countries” aren’t that bad if they give us people such as Maame Biney, the Ghanianborn speedskater who is one of the most engaging athletes on the U.S. team.)
Welcoming immigrants doesn’t cheapen our heritage, it enriches it. Embracing those who look or love differently doesn’t devalue other relationships, it makes them all more precious. Lending a helping hand to those less fortunate doesn’t cost a thing, and that generosity will likely be repaid down the road.
We became the greatest country in the world by being bold and inclusive, not by shutting others out.
“Everybody can relate to being different or feeling like they’re not good enough,” Rippon said this week. “I had those doubts, too.
“I want to show those young kids that anything is possible. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what other people say about you, you can put that all behind you and you can go out there and you can show the world what you have to offer.”
Now that is what makes America great.
The Olympics have a way of bringing out the best in a country. As the Pyeongchang Games have shown, ours comes from our diversity.