Meghan Flynn of Biddeford Pool works in sports and government relations in Washington, D.C. 

Millions of Americans set reminders and early alarms on the morning of Feb. 22 to cheer on the U.S. men’s hockey team in the Olympic gold medal game. Folks swelled with pride at the thought of our men’s team re-creating some of the magic of the 1980 “Miracle” run, hoping that both our men’s and women’s hockey teams would bring home gold.

Over the last few weeks while we’ve watched their games, the U.S. men’s hockey team has repeatedly praised the U.S. women’s team in interviews — highlighting their record-setting shutouts, wide margins of victory in all games leading up to the final and Megan Keller’s game-winning goal for gold. Jack Hughes, who scored the men’s game-winner, even said his first thought after winning the game was Megan’s shot. 

When the cameras are on, these men appear to be supportive of their female counterparts on Team USA. When they think the cameras are off, that does not seem to be the case.

On a call with the newly crowned Olympic champions immediately after the game, President Trump said: “We’ll do the White House … we’ll just have some fun; we have medals for you guys. And we have to, I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that?”

As the locker room erupted in laughter, Trump went on to guess that if he did not invite the women’s team, he would probably be impeached.

Women across the country have expressed outrage on social media, asserting that this experience is all too familiar — men who publicly support us and then diminish our accomplishments, and even our very existence, behind closed doors. The fact that, even at the highest level of sport, the achievements of the Olympic champion U.S. women’s hockey team are treated as a joke by both the president and the men’s team is a reminder of pervasive sexism in the U.S.

The president’s “locker room talk” also begs the question of what exactly he means when he claims that his policies protect women and girls in sports. Is this the same women’s sports community he claims to care about so deeply?

To the U.S. men’s hockey team: You cannot have it both ways. Either your support of the women’s side throughout the Olympic Games has been performative, or you have been spineless and silent in moments where it matters. 

Neither is acceptable.

At the Olympics, athletes represent their country — not just the men in it, but all people. And as one of the 51% of Americans who are women, I want you to know that you have replaced our pride with disappointment. You still have an opportunity to remedy this if the president’s call was a moment of weakness.

The best time to stand up to those sexist, disparaging comments would have been in the moment, but the second-best time is now. Use your platform to teach the next generation of athletes, fans and Americans that respect is not reserved for men on the ice or anywhere else, but something we owe every person.