Despite being called the United States of America, I feel like the US has been dealing with a lot of internal conflict and division recently. With the polarization of the Trump administration, severe partisanship, and just a general lack of communication between the various different parts of America, it seems that we’re mostly just a collection of isolated communities than one large country. After the tensions and enmities that arose during the last Super Bowl, I was excited for the games, hoping that rooting for the same athletes competing in international competitions would bring some sense of camaraderie. The mission of the Olympics is to promote sports worldwide, and while sometimes sports can lead to Us vs Them mentality, it generally results in people coming together to enjoy an event together while showing off their skills.
It’s not the Summer Olympics, where the United States holds the record for the most number of trophies. The athletes competing in the games aren’t completely representative of the full US population, despite being the most diverse team that has come from the United States, according to NPR. Despite this, I hope that the Olympics can accomplish what it sets out to do, which is “find unity in diversity”.