The United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) for football lost to Canada 1-0 at the semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics. It was a shock defeat as the US team were the overwhelming favourites to win. USA will now face off against Australia for the Bronze Medal match on Thursday.
While people ordinarily cheer for their national team and athletes from their nation to win in the Olympics, it was an odd situation for the USWNT as significant sections of Americans were hoping they would lose. According to them, the team had embraced ‘woke’ ideology and therefore, deserved to lose.
Following the defeat, a section of Americans are expressing their happiness at the defeat.
https://twitter.com/Starcoder_1/status/1422177801248165890?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwThey say that the USWNT went ‘woke’ and therefore, they lost the match to Canada.
https://twitter.com/ACTBrigitte/status/1422149966961721346?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/catturd2/status/1422142795339509760?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwThe fact that the USWNT took the knee, which is supposed to be a stand against racism but widely recognized as a political demonstration in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, was also mocked.
https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1422165776505745409?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwMegan Rapinoe, one of the stars of the team, was especially mocked on social media.
https://twitter.com/lavern_spicer/status/1422197248247713793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/gregkellyusa/status/1422164931428995073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/NickAdamsinUSA/status/1422150301101051906?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwThe celebration of the defeat of the USWNT at the Tokyo Olympics by Americans themselves reveals the extent to which American society has been polarised. They celebrated when the team lost to Sweden in their opening match and cheered again when their team crashed out of the contention for the Gold Medal.