Let’s celebrate the many Olympians who love America

One of the things I love most about the Olympics is the chance to watch all sorts of sports that I would never otherwise see. There are so many Americans who are exceptional at these sports but don’t get much attention — except during the Olympics. A small number choose to use that opportunity to tear their country down. They steal the spotlight from the vast majority of U.S. Olympians who wear the stars and stripes with pride. We should spend more time celebrating these patriots.

We should focus on athletes such as Tamyra Mensah-Stock, who became the first U.S. Black woman to win a gold medal in wrestling. She grew up in Texas, the daughter of an immigrant from Ghana. After her historic win, she was asked how it felt to represent the United States: “It. Feels. Amazing!” she said, while wrapped in an American flag. Curling her hands into the shape of a heart, she added “I love representing the U.S.”

Or take baseball player Eddy Alvarez, a son of Cuban immigrants who was selected to carry the flag during the opening ceremonies. “Just to get the honor to represent the United States of America, to hold the flag — the symbol of liberty, of freedom — my family came over to this country from Cuba … If it wasn’t for them doing that, I wouldn’t be in the position that I am now,” he says. “Being a firstgeneration Cuban American, my story represents the American Dream.”

Look at U.S. fencer Yeisser Ramírez, who grew up so poor in Cuba, that he had to fence barefoot. He remembers watching the U.S. Olympic team on TV, and thinking “Man, if I get the chance to go to America, I would do it without a blink of my eye.” One day he came home from practice to learn that his father had entered him into the U.S. visa lottery — and won. Now he’s on the very team he dreamed about as a kid. “I never thought I would come to this country. Never, ever, ever,” Ramírez says. “I wouldn’t change my story for anything.”

U.S. golfer Patrick Reed learned about patriotism from his brother-in-law Dan Karain, an Army machine-gunner who served in the Korangal Valley in Afghanistan. “Hearing the stories of what he had to go through,” Reed says, “soldiers are dying for us so we’re able to sleep at night and feel safe and do what we do. And so, for me to represent my country, anytime I can wear the red, white and blue and support our troops and our country, I’m gonna do it. Getting to play for something bigger than yourself, it’s a no-brainer.”

Or take U.S. women’s boxer Naomi Graham, who became the first female active-duty service member to compete for Team USA at the Olympics. She grew up poor in Fayetteville, N.C., and was homeless after her mother kicked her out of the house. She turned her life around, joined the military and signed up for an Army program that helps soldiers compete in their sports while handling their military obligations. In the United States, she says, “You can be anything you want to be. You can come from nothing and be an Olympian.”

And then there’s U.S. marathoner Aliphine Tuliamuk, who started running as a child in Kenya carrying water home for her family, where she was one of 32 siblings. In the U.S. she was able to work as an Uber driver and send back money to educate her brothers and sisters. When she arrived here, she says, she looked around and thought “Are we in paradise?” She has a red, white and blue beanie she crocheted as “a way to say thank you America for giving me the opportunity to be who I am today.”

These athletes revere the flag for the freedom and opportunity it represents. They would never turn their backs on it, or use the medal platform for self-indulgent protest. What a shame that the malcontents get all the media attention, when these American patriots deserve it so much more.