US Olympic soccer star Tierna Davidson says it was 'difficult' to deal with teammate's social media posts
U.S. women's soccer's Tierna Davidson called teammate Korbin Albert's social media posts about being transgender "difficult" ahead of the Olympics.
U.S. women’s national team soccer player Korbin Albert appeared to ruffle feathers with her teammates over social media posts about the LGBTQ+ community earlier this year.
One TikTok video she reposted included a sermon that said being gay and "feeling transgender" is wrong, according to The Athletic.
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Another surfaced screenshot reportedly showed Albert liking an Instagram post mocking Megan Rapinoe’s injury accompanied by the statement, "God taking time off performing miracles to make sure Megan Rapinoe sprains her ankle in her final ever game."
Albert is set to compete for Team USA in the Paris Olympics. Tierna Davidson spoke out about Albert’s posts days before the Americans play Zambia in its opening Olympic match.
"It’s been difficult. It was difficult for me when it first happened, and it’s been hard to hear how fans have been taking it because I feel like I want to be able to represent the queer community really well on this team, and so I want to have fans feel really welcome and feel like they can see themselves on this field in this team, so I don’t want there to be any sort of feeling that they are not welcome here," Davidson, who is gay, said on the "Good Game with Sarah Spain" podcast.
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"I think it’s a difficult situation that has obviously affected me personally given what she was speaking on," Davidson continued. "I think that it is something you have to learn as a young player, especially with the platform that you’re given. Your beliefs, or how you choose to express certain things, is very public and people do look and listen. Whether or not it’s something that you grew up with, or it was instilled upon you from a young age, and you might not know better, it is something that can hurt other people."
Albert apologized for her posts but has received boos from some of the crowds in matches she has appeared in.
Davidson added that she respects Albert as a teammate and hopes to help Albert learn.
The Americans won a bronze medal in women’s soccer last year. They have not won a gold medal since London in 2012.
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