Winter Olympics 2026: Gus Kenworthy took death threats over ICE post ‘with grain of salt’

Team GB’s Gus Kenworthy says he is «on the right side» after he received death threats for posting a graphic message about the United States’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement organisation.

Freestyle skier Kenworthy shared the image – in which ‘ICE’ was preceded by an expletive – on Instagram a week before he was due to compete at the Winter Olympics in Italy.

In January, intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, 37, and fellow Minnesota resident Renee Good, 37, were both killed by ICE agents in the city, sparking protests across the US.

Speaking to BBC Sport about the threats he received, Kenworthy said: «It was tough. No-one wants to read bad things about themselves, things that are threats and violent and scary and homophobic.

«I also took it with a grain of salt. I couldn’t imagine writing something like that about someone, especially on a public forum, anyone who does that has something wrong with them.

«I think I’m on the right side.»

Kenworthy, 34, was born in Chelmsford but grew up in the US and won silver in the ski slopestyle at the Sochi 2014 Games, before switching allegiance to Team GB in 2019.

He qualified in ninth place for tonight’s halfpipe final, which starts at 18:30 GMT, with a score of 81.25 points.

US skier Hunter Hess qualified in fifth and made an ‘L’ sign against his forehead after completing his first run, in response to US President Donald Trump calling him «a real loser».

Before the Games, Hess had said: «Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the US.»

Speaking to reporters after Friday’s qualifiers, he said: «I worked so hard to be here. I sacrificed my entire life to make this moment happen.

«I’m not going to let controversy like that get in my way. I love the United States of America. I cannot say that enough.»

President Trump’s border tsar said earlier in February that the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota will end.

Tom Homan said Operation Metro Surge had resulted in many illegal immigrants who had committed violent crimes being detained for deportation. But the surge also sparked nationwide protests when US citizens Good and Pretti were killed by immigration officers.

More than 4,000 undocumented immigrants had been arrested, according to Homan, who added that ICE has always had a presence in Minnesota and will continue to have one.

Kenworthy retired after the 2022 Olympics in Beijing but announced his comeback last year.

However, he has had to self-fund his way to the Games given GB Snowsport’s athlete funding had already been allocated.

«I called it quits partly because I’d been doing it a long time and I had burnout and was over it, but I was also having some bad head injuries and so it made it easier to walk away,» said the five-time World Championship medallist.

«Months after, when those symptoms started to subside and I started to feel myself again, I started wondering it wasn’t the way I wanted it to finish.

«I kept pushing that feeling away, and finally I was at a point where I was like ‘ok, well if you’re having that feeling, it’s now or never, and I didn’t want to live to regret it and wonder what if.

«I decided to just give it a push and make it go, and try and get there. It’s been pretty tough, because I didn’t have any funding, I wasn’t on any national team in order to get assistance, so it’s been totally self-funded, myself, my coach, both of our travel, training camps, lift tickets, insurance, all of it, food, lodgings.

«I struggled deciding if it was the right thing to do, but ultimately, money comes and goes, this opportunity won’t.»