[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book I)]
[April 13, 1994]
[Pages 689-690]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Honoring the United States Winter Olympic Athletes
April 13, 1994

    The President. Thank you very much, Mr. Vice President, the First 
Lady, thank you for coming out here, in this case not warming up but 
trying to cool down the crowd--[laughter]--while I was trying to get out 
of the Oval Office; to all of our distinguished guests, and especially 
to the Olympians.
    Let me say, first of all, that the Olympics for me, like most 
Americans, is primarily a personal experience, not something I 
experience as President but something--I'm just another American 
cheering for our teams. I'm proud of the fact that we brought home more 
medals than any U.S. Winter Olympic team in history. I'm proud of the 
astonishing achievements of this Paraolympic team and the fact that at 
least two of the athletes won four gold medals.
    I was elated and a little resentful, frankly, when my wife and 
daughter were able to go to Lillehammer, and I couldn't. But you can bet 
your last nickel that all of us will be in Atlanta--[applause]--to our 
friends from Georgia there.
    There's not much I can add to what the First Lady and the Vice 
President have said, except to first say how terribly impressed I was at 
the reports I got from Hillary and Chelsea about their contacts with the 
Olympians from the United States, about what kind of young people we 
sent over there and what kind of courage they had and the efforts that 
they made. It made an incredible impression on me.
    And second, to tell you what I said when I started, I experience the 
Olympics primarily as a citizen. As a matter of fact, I may have 
endangered the national security, because I stayed up every night until 
you went off the air. [Laughter] I saw every last event. I saw every 
last interview. I heard ``The Star-Spangled Banner'' played every time 
it was played. I did it first when I was alone, and then when Hillary 
and Chelsea came back, we did it together. And I want to say something 
very personal about it.
    What you did there, just by getting there, I hope with all my heart 
was communicated to the children that you visited when you went to the 
schools. And I thank you for that. And if I could ask you just for one 
thing, it would be to try to take some of your time--and I

[[Page 690]]

saw from the television portraits of some of you that a lot of you have 
done this already--but to try to take some of your time for as long as 
you can just to find some way to expose yourselves to the young people 
of this country. Because so many of them have so many troubles, they 
have so many difficulties; they have no one to cheer them on or spur 
them on or get them up at 4 o'clock in the morning the way some of you 
had to to become what you wanted to be. And yet, by seeing you they can 
imagine themselves in the light of your life.
    And I can tell you that I work hard up here every day, all of us do, 
trying to find ways to pull this country together and push this country 
forward and give our people the opportunities to live up to their God-
given capacities. But in the end, this country is great because of what 
happens inside people's spirits and in families and in communities. And 
there are many of those young people whom you could reach better than I 
ever could. And because of what you have done, they will see that there 
are things that they could do; because of what you became, there are 
things that they can become.
    I thank my friends Florence Griffith Joyner and Tom McMillen for 
their leadership of our Council on Athletics and Physical Fitness and 
all the others who have never forgotten the power of example in a 
positive way. Just never forget that. All of us as Americans are elated 
at just the very thought that we could send people to the Olympic games 
and what you had to do. You will probably never know and most of you 
will probably never see the results of the people you may have 
influenced just by visiting these schools in the last day. But I plead 
with you to keep doing it, because there are a lot of young people out 
there that we need for America's future. There are a lot of young people 
out there who will be making decisions about their lives in the next 
couple of years who literally may be profoundly affected just by seeing 
you standing in their classrooms or walking their halls or having a 
simple conversation with them.
    You are the embodiment of what the rest of us try to create every 
day. I hope you'll never forget it and always give a little of it back 
to the next generation of young Americans.
    Thank you, and God bless you all.

[At this point, the President was presented with a team jacket and a 
luge.]

    The President. I don't know if I have the courage to get on this. 
[Laughter]
    When I got this jacket, the Vice President, never one to pass up an 
opportunity to keep me humble, said, ``They also have a luge suit for 
you.'' [Laughter] Nothing he says ever has one meaning. The other 
meaning was, ``Think how much thinner you would look in it.'' [Laughter]
    This is wonderful. Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 2:34 p.m. in the East Room at the White 
House.