VIDEO SHOWS: NEWS CONFERENCE WITH UTAH 2034 OLYMPIC ORGANISERS INCLUDING UTAH GOVERNOR SPENCER COX SHOWS: MILAN, ITALY (FEBRUARY 10, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all) 1. NEWS CONFERENCE STARTS 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UTAH GOVERNOR SPENCER COX SAYING: "Look, we love our athletes and we're grateful for our athletes. We recognize that there are lots of divisions in in our country and in our world today. I love that we live in a country, that we get to live in a country where people get to speak their minds. That's true of athletes. It's true of governors. It's true of presidents. It's true of every individual in our country and and I'm grateful for that. And again, we care about unity. We believe that this is an opportunity to bring people together. So grateful for Sarah (Hirshland) and her team and all of the athletes and for the competition that's happening out on the field for these games. So people are going to speak their minds. And I'm grateful for that. I think that makes us better." 3. NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UTAH GOVERNOR SPENCER COX SAYING: "We care deeply about the political situation that's happening in the United States right now. The entire world watches the United States maybe differently than other countries. And so everything gets highlighted more outside of the United States. I know the media loves this stuff. It gets a lot of clicks. I hate the questions you ask the athletes. These are kids out there competing. I think you should be asking them about their sports and about their competition and and let the politics take care of the politics." 5. NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS 6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UTAH GOVERNOR SPENCER COX SAYING: "And what I would say is come visit now. Everything you see on the news isn't the only thing happening in our country and I hope you get a chance to to come back to the United States. I hope you get a chance to come and visit Utah. You will find it still a very welcoming place, as you will the rest of the United States, too. We are a very welcoming country. There are some differences of opinion right now when it comes to the way that laws are being enforced and so that will play out. We have elections, just like your country in Germany. We have different parties in our country that are coming through with different visions and and we'll see how those things turn out." 7. NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS 8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNITED STATES OLYMPIC COMMITTEE CHIEF EXECUTIVE SARAH HIRSHLAND SAYING: "It's important to us to ensure that anyone who is reacting to or commenting on something that someone said understands the totality in the context of what they said, and that's important. I will point to Hunter's post, I think from yesterday, in which the first line he said is, 'I love my country'. And I've been in touch with Hunter. We've been in touch with folks back in the United States to ensure that everyone understands the context and intention behind all of these comments. And I have all the confidence in the world that every member of Team USA is proud to represent our country and understands the opportunity they have to bring people together. And we're all here for that. And that's exactly what we're going to do." 9. NEWS CONFERENCE ENDS STORY: Utah governor Spencer Cox has defended Donald Trump's right to criticise US athletes at the Winter Olympics and advised the media to stick to sport, not politics when asking them questions. The Republican, speaking at a news conference in Milan to publicise the Utah 2034 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, was asked whether it was right of Trump to have called skier Hunter Hess "a real loser". Hess had said it was “a little hard” to wear U.S. colours given his unease about events at home, remarks that ignited a social media storm and drew Trump’s rebuke on Truth Social. Talking of his love for U.S. athletes competing in Italy, Cox said he was proud the United States had freedom of speech. "I love that we live in a country, that we get to live in a country where people get to speak their minds," he said. "That's true of athletes. It's true of governors. It's true of presidents. It's true of every individual in our country. And and I'm grateful for that. "I know the media loves this stuff. It gets a lot of clicks. I hate the questions you ask the athletes. These are kids out there competing. I think you should be asking them about their sports and about their competition and and let the politics take care of the politics." (Production: Irene Wang, Iain Axon) (The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)
