White House lights up in red, white and blue to cheer Team USA for Olympics


The Biden administration is showing its Team USA spirit by lighting up the White House in red, white and blue ahead of the start of the 2022 Winter Olympics.

The White House tweeted a photo of the patriotic light arrangement on Thursday night, on the eve of the Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing.

"Tonight the White House is lit up in red, white, and blue in support of all the Olympians and Paralympians proudly representing our country," the White House said. "Go Team USA!"

The United States is one of many countries taking part in a diplomatic boycott of this year's Games. While American athletes will still compete in Beijing, no U.S. government official will travel to the Chinese capital in protest of China's human rights record.

"The athletes on Team USA have our full support, we will be behind them 100 percent as we cheer them on from home," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said while announcing the boycott in early December.

"We will not be contributing to the fanfare of the games. U.S. diplomatic or official representation would treat these games as business as usual in the face of the PRC's egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang, and we simply can't do that," she added, referring to China by its official name.

And while he won't attend the Olympics in person, President Biden will "absolutely" watch the Games from Washington, D.C., Psaki said.