Two U.S. hockey teams won gold medals at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. The women’s team was first to defeat its Canadian rival in overtime for the top prize. The men’s team did the same three days later. President Donald Trump spoke on the phone with the guys during their locker room celebration just moments after their victory. He invited them to the White House and offered to send a military plane to transport them.
“I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” Trump noted. He went on to joke that he “probably would be impeached” if he did not. After that call, both teams were invited. The women declined, citing previously scheduled academic and work commitments.
“I thought it was sort of a distasteful joke and unfortunately that is overshadowing a lot of the success … of women at the Olympics carrying for Team USA and having amazing gold medal feats,” women’s hockey captain Hilary Knight said during an ESPN SportsCenter interview three days after Trump’s call with the men’s team. “I think this is a really good learning point to really focus on how we talk about women—not only in sport, but in industry. Women aren’t less than. Our achievements shouldn’t be overshadowed by anything else other than how great they are.”
As Trump promised during the phone call, the men’s team was celebrated on Capitol Hill during the State of the Union address. The president and members of Congress gave them a thunderous standing ovation. It was a special moment that they deserved. Women Olympians deserved that, too. But they were not celebrated in the same way.
During the speech, Trump announced that Connor Hellebuyck, goaltender for the men’s Olympic hockey team, will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian honor. The president erroneously claimed that the medal has only been presented to 12 athletes in the past. The number is actually 44, according to USA Today. Seven are women: Billie Jean King, Pat Summitt, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Annika Sörenstam, Simone Biles, Megan Rapinoe and Katie Ledecky. Barack Obama presented the first two, Trump presented two in his first term and Joe Biden presented the final three.
Some people might reasonably argue that this year’s gold medal–winning women’s team was invited but chose not to participate; so, it is on them that they forfeited the opportunity to be recognized in such magnificent fashion. Noteworthy, though, is that they were not the only women who won gold medals at this year’s Olympics. CBS News reports that women earned six gold and 17 medals over all for Team USA, compared to men, who won four gold and 12 medals over all. Why not celebrate all the gold medalists at the State of the Union address? Perhaps others were invited, including women, but all of them declined. Probably not.
It is not just Trump’s locker room talk that makes me doubtful. It is also my recognition of the repeated, long-standing minimization of women’s athletic achievements in intercollegiate and professional domains. Gender equity in sport should not only be about Title IX compliance and ensuring that women have the same opportunities as men to participate on athletic teams. It should also be about providing comparable spaces for women to train and compete. Recall that the NCAA apologized and vowed to do better after videos emerged of unacceptable differences in men’s and women’s workout facilities during the 2021 March Madness basketball tournaments.
Gender equity also requires paying women higher salaries in professional sports as well as providing them the support they need to equitably profit from their name, image and likeness in intercollegiate athletics. Other necessary actions include increasing coverage of women’s sports on major broadcast networks, making as big of a deal about the women’s championship series as is made about the men’s and investing resources into celebrating women when they win, to name a few.
Bringing the women’s championship team to the men’s football game for a 60-second stadium round of applause is not enough. When men win NCAA football and men’s basketball championships, colleges and universities do so much to celebrate them. They should. But they also should do more to celebrate women, men and genderqueer athletes who win across all sports, while being incredibly intentional about ensuring that women are not receiving less attention and relatively subpar festivities.
Sexism looks like recognizing women out of obligation and only for optics. It also explains why Serena Williams, Wilma Rudolph, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Florence Griffith Joyner, Allyson Felix, Mia Hamm, Dawn Staley, Lindsey Vonn, Lisa Leslie, Danica Patrick, Misty May-Treanor, Kerri Walsh Jennings and other extraordinarily talented women athletes have not received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (which is sometimes awarded posthumously). None of the athletes who won medals for Team USA in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, deserve to have sexism minimize their accomplishments. Actually, no athlete anywhere deserves sexism at any time.
Shaun Harper is University Professor and Provost Professor of Education, Business and Public Policy at the University of Southern California, where he holds the Clifford and Betty Allen Chair in Urban Leadership. His most recent book is titled Let’s Talk About DEI: Productive Disagreements About America’s Most Polarizing Topics.
