I don’t follow the Olympics myself so maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about here. The losses by the women’s soccer team and the men’s basketball team are being reported in such a way that I’m led to believe the losses are a surprise.
Some of the people on these teams have gone out of their way to demonstrate how “woke” they are so the teams have lost a good portion of their fan base. It makes me wonder how impactful the loss of the fan support is in their performance. It’s unlikely there are a lot of travelers who would be physically there to be their support anyway, but they must internally know that they’re somewhat reviled in their own country. Who are you playing for if you have no pride in your country at the Olympics?
A divided team cannot win. It’s that simple.