Why did such Olympic greatness need to be tainted with politics?

Now that the dust has settled, and the emotions calmed, everyone can discuss the U.S. Olympians’ dramatic wins and tainted celebrations with proper perspective.

But you know what?

It still stinks, right to the end of celebrations this past week, when the official White House Tik-Tok account used artificial intelligence to transform American (and Ottawa Senators) center Brady Tkachuk into some Canadian-hating caricature of this administration’s imagination.

“They booed our national anthem, so I had to come out and teach those maple-syrup-eating f—- a lesson,” Tkachuk is made to say on White House’s social-media account.

If 12 million viewers were surprised he said this, imagine how Tkachuk felt.

“I’m not in control of those accounts,” he said. “I know those words would never come out of my mouth.”

It’s the oddest of times in America when our athletes are left to explain the wayward conduct of America’s leaders. They tried, too. They said the FBI director Kash Patel’s beer-chugging in the middle of the men’s team celebration was him, “just one of the boys,” though by Friday even President Donald Trump expressed disappointment over that behavior.

The president put the men’s team in another mess with his congratulatory, post-game phone call. He invited it to the White House, then dismissively added he’d have to invite the women’s team, too, or “I do believe I probably would be impeached.”

The players laughed, just as they’d been laughing and hugging and celebrating in the immediate aftermath of years spent working to win the gold medal. Were they to be on guard in that moment to catch the president’s needless jab at women? And then to get more criticism for their reaction than the president for his words?

The adults in the room were the U.S. women.

“I just thought the joke was distasteful and unfortunate,” team captain Hillary Knight said. “I think the way women are represented, it’s a great teaching point to really shine light on how women should be championed for their amazing feats.

“Now I have to sort of sit in front of you … and explain someone else’s behavior. It’s not my responsibility.”

Isn’t sports the easy and fun unifier? Shouldn’t our games show how we’re more alike than apart?

There can be a fun tapestry of sports and politics. Once upon a time, President Richard Nixon drew up a Super Bowl play for Dolphins coach Don Shula. It resulted in an incompletion, but it feels nostalgically naïve by today’s standards.

Even in 2013, when the 1972 Dolphins team went to President Barack Obama’s White House, a few players didn’t attend over Obama’s politics and that was fine. They had their say. The president celebrated those who came and ignored those who didn’t.

Now look at what’s happened. It’s not just an international star like Bad Bunny being turned into a political debate over something as harmless as a Super Bowl halftime show. It’s previously unknowns like Olympic skier Hunter Hess being targeted for saying he had “mixed emotions,” representing the United States.

“There is so much that is great about America, but there are always things that could be better,’’ Hess said.

One of the great things is being able to express yourself.

“U.S. Olympic Skier, Hunter Hess, a real Loser, says he doesn’t represent his Country in the current Winter Olympics,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social. “If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have tried out for the Team, and it’s too bad he’s on it. Very hard to root for someone like this.”

Politics and the Olympics often intersect. They typically involve cases like Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych being disqualified for refusing to not wear a helmet honoring his country’s athletes killed in their war with Russia.

But we were pulled into an unnecessary political firefight after the U.S. men’s and women’s teams had memorable gold medal runs. Their overtime wins define everything good about sports. And then came the aftermath.

The men’s team took their invitation to Washington and then had to explain the White House’s Tik-Tok creations.

The women’s team declined their joking invitation and had to explain comments directed at them.

How did such fun turn into such fury?