Athletes need to be at their peak performance to compete against other athletes who dedicate their lives to a specific sport. However, not all of the Team USA athletes have been at their best this month in Pyeongchang — possibly because they lost their focus.

Oddly enough, many of those underwhelming performances came from athletes who have been openly critical of the Trump administration. Some on Twitter are even calling it the “Trump curse” — yet it may be more than that.

Most notably, 2014 Sochi gold medalist Maddie Bowman was unable to defend her title or medal at all this time around in freestyle skiing. She fell on all three of her attempts in the final. This was a major surprise — she is only 24 years old, so her chances of winning again looked good.

Last year, she told Sports Illustrated she could not see herself going to the White House if she were invited after competing in the Olympics.

The 2010 Vancouver gold medalist Lindsey Vonn (pictured above) is another Trump-hater; she told CNN she was representing the “people of the United States, not the president” and that she would “absolutely not” visit the White House if she were to win a gold medal. Well, she does not have to worry about that now — she earned a sixth-place finish in the Super-G ski race.

Team USA’s two openly gay male athletes — Adam Rippon and Gus Kenworthy — have also been no friends to President Donald Trump and company.

[lz_ndn video=33561605]

Gus Kenworthy took a 12th-place finish in the slopestyle ski event and earned both a broken thumb and bruised rear end. During the Olympics, he fell on his first two runs, and in the third he ended up taking another tumble. Kenworthy broke his thumb before the final and on Twitter, he wrote, “It won’t stop me from competing (obvi) but it does prevent me from shaking Pence’s hand so … Silver linings!”

Adam Rippon, a figure skater, has been one of the most vocal Olympians in modern history. He’s used his platform to attack Vice President Mike Pence repeatedly.

He started this on January 17, when he made a false claim to USA Today that Pence funded “gay conversion” therapy.

Who do you think would win the Presidency?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from LifeZette, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

The skater also said he would not visit the White House if invited.

Rippon had the best performance of the bunch, earning a bronze medal; but his performance did not impress the judges because he lost to a pair of athletes who fell during their routines.

It is easy for many to laugh and simply say that “karma got them” for their anti-Trump sentiments and comments. However, it’s far more possible these athletes focused on politics to the detriment of their athletic performances. They put their energy into preaching rather than practicing.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was a prime example of this back in 2016. Amid his national anthem-kneeling protests, the athlete went a career-worst 1-10 though he’d led his team to a Super Bowl appearance just a few years prior, in the 2012 season.

Too many athletes today seem to want to play the role of pundit — and it is not working out so well for them.

Tom Joyce is a freelance writer from the South Shore of Massachusetts. He covers sports, pop culture, and politics and has contributed to The Federalist, Newsday, ESPN, and other outlets.