JD Vance issues warning to US Olympians after he was booed at opening ceremony

JD Vance has warned Team USA athletes after he and his wife, Usha, received resounding boos at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony.

It was a frosty reception for the couple in Milan, where they both attended to support the US Olympians competing.

Vance and his wife were booed at the ceremony, with one commentator from CBC announcing: "There's the vice president, JD Vance... oops... those are not... eh, those are a lot of boos for him — whistling, jeering, some applause."

The vice president has now offered some advice to the athletes, which many are interpreting as a warning, and can be summarised as 'stop it'.

He urged them on CNN: "You're there to play a sport, and you're there to represent your country and hopefully win a medal.

"You're not there to pop off about politics."

Vance went on: "Yes, you're going to have some Olympic athletes who pop off about politics. I feel like that happens at every Olympics."

Vice President JD Vance and his wife received boos at the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics (Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

He then asked for solidarity, saying: "My advice to them would be to try to bring the country together, and when you're representing the country, you're representing Democrats and Republicans."

Elsewhere, he told reporters: "When Olympic athletes enter the political arena, they should expect some pushback," and insisted: “The way to bring the country together is not to show up in a foreign country and attack the President … but it’s to play your sport."

To those who weren't booing, he said: "Most Olympic athletes, whatever their politics, are doing a great job," and said that they 'certainly enjoy the support of the entire country'.

It follows comments from several athletes who expressed they felt conflicted to be representing their country.

Curler Richard Ruohonen hails from Minnesota, where many ICE raids have been carried out.

Ruohonen said: "What's happening in Minnesota is wrong. There's no shades of grey. We love our country. We're playing for Team USA. What the Olympics means is excellence, respect, friendship. We are playing for the people around the country who show those, share those same values, that compassion, that love, and that respect."

Elsewhere, skier Hunter Hess said "It brings up mixed emotions to represent the US right now."

Donald Trump expressed surprise at the booing, and called one athlete a 'real loser' for saying she was conflicted about representing the US (Al Drago/Getty Images)

In the wake of her simple remark, President Donald Trump himself hit back, calling the athlete a 'real Loser' in a Truth Social post.

Trump expressed surprise to reporters at news of the booing: "It’s surprising because people like him. Well, I mean, he is in a foreign country, in all fairness. But he doesn’t get booed in this country.”

Prior to the ceremony, the IOC president Kirsty Coventry had urged people to to use the opening ceremony 'as an opportunity to be respectful of each other'.

IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said: “What I would say from the IOC point of view is with the next Games coming up in Los Angeles, we are super happy that the US administration is so engaged with the Games here and going forward. That’s a great thing for the Olympic movement.

“We are largely a sports organisation and seeing the US team cheered as they were by the audience, fair play, that was fantastic, so very happy.

“In general at sporting events we like to see fair play, but in terms of having a good relationship with the administration, that’s good news for us.”