The boys’s group was criticised after a number of gamers appeared to chuckle when Trump made his remark, however Knight mentioned: “I feel there is a real stage of assist there and respect. That is being overshadowed by a fast lapse.

“The fellows had been in a troublesome spot, so I feel it is a disgrace this storyline and narrative has sort of blown up and [is] overshadowing that connection and real curiosity in each other and cheering one another on.”

US males’s participant Charlie McAvoy subsequently apologised for his group’s response, saying it was “not reflective” of how his facet view the ladies’s squad.

“Definitely sorry for a way we responded to it in that second,” the Boston Bruins participant informed reporters earlier than an NHL recreation on Thursday. “Issues simply occurred actually fast there.

“If you understand the boys’s group, and if you understand the relationships that we now have, the period of time that we have spent with the ladies’s group and the way we have supported them, it is actually not reflective of how we appear and feel at them and their accomplishments.”

Knight, 36, ended her Olympic profession with 15 targets, probably the most by any US male or feminine participant.

She mentioned she hopes the Trump controversy proves to be a “actually good studying level, to essentially concentrate on how we discuss ladies, not solely in sport however in business”.

She mentioned: “Ladies aren’t lower than, and their achievements should not be overshadowed by anything aside from how nice they’re.”