[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
[May 1, 1996]
[Pages 673-674]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Honoring the United States Olympic Committee's
Champions in Life
May 1, 1996

    Thank you very much. Let me say that whoever organized this program 
so that I could follow Buddy Lee--[laughter]--should take up another 
line of work. [Laughter] Wasn't he wonderful? Let's give him another 
hand. [Applause]
    And thank you, Bonnie Blair, for your story and your example. Thank 
you, Ralph Neal, for letting us come here to Eastern. I thank the Senior 
High School Band, and I thank the wonderful Eastern High School Choir 
that sings for us every Christmas, I'm told. I thank the students from 
Elliot and Payne and the Head Start kids who are here; thank you. I want 
to thank Al Oerter and the representatives of the U.S. Olympic Committee 
and all the Champions in Life who are here.
    I am so honored to be here with you today. And I hope that all of 
you have enjoyed this just as much as I have and has gotten just as much 
as I have out of it.
    You know, I'm very proud that the United States is going to be 
hosting the Olympics again and that this is the 100th anniversary of the 
modern games. I'm proud that there will be people from 197 different 
nations coming here. And when I see these folks behind me, the Olympians 
and the Paralympians, I know that they will see America at its best.
    They'll see our diversity and our unity. They'll see that we have 
differences that don't divide us. They'll see that we understand 
individual excellence and teamwork. They'll see, as Buddy Lee said, that 
no champion wins alone, not in athletics and not in life. There's always 
a parent who cares or a teacher who listens or a coach who believes or a 
friend who encourages or a church and community that supports.
    And behind them, there must be an America--an America where every 
child, without regard to race or gender or however they start out in 
life, has a chance to make the most of his or her own life through a 
decent education and safe streets and a clean environment and a brighter 
future.
    We know that it takes extraordinary individual effort to achieve. 
The Vice President talked about Jeff Blatnick's heroism in the face of 
his cancer. We know that there are incredible stories of heroism here on 
this stage and throughout the Olympic teams: people like Deanna Sodoma, 
a cyclist until she was paralyzed, and now she will race in a wheelchair 
in the

[[Page 674]]

Paralympics, still an Olympic champion; people like Bill Demby, who lost 
both his legs serving our country in Vietnam, and is now a member of our 
Paralympics volleyball team.
    All these athletes, each in their own way, and in some special way 
the members of the Paralympics team, remind us that we all have a lot of 
important muscles in our body, but the most important muscle we ever use 
on the field of competition as well as in life is the heart. Having 
heart means doing the very best we can with our God-given capacity, 
whatever that is, just like Bonnie Blair said.
    If you young people have heart, you will remember the pledge that 
Buddy Lee got you to make: You'll stay in school; you'll stay drug-free; 
you'll stay away from gangs and violence; and you'll get into developing 
your minds and your bodies. If you have heart, you know you can be a 
better student, a better athlete, a better musician, and you can be a 
good son or daughter, a good brother or sister, a good friend. If you 
have heart, you know that you have to respect yourself and others, and 
you have to show the responsibility that every human being can that 
makes you a champion.
    A lot of heart has gone into putting the Olympics together. In the 
final weeks, it's all coming together. There are a lot of people being 
recognized in the Olympics for what they do every day, not as athletic 
champions but because they are champion human beings.
    Today, this day, in Boulder City, Nevada, a woman named Irene Wisner 
is carrying the Olympic torch on its way to Opening Day in Atlanta, July 
19th. Most of you have probably never heard of Irene Wisner. She won't 
be in the Olympics; she is 74 years old. The children in Washington, DC, 
don't know her, but there are 100 children who know her very well 
because they were abused children, abandoned children and no one would 
take care of them, but this one 74-year-old woman took 100 of these 
children into her love and life to give them a better chance. And for 
that service, she was one of many Americans selected to carry the 
Olympic torch.
    There are people like that all around. Just this morning before I 
came out here, I was with one of your fellow students in Washington, 
Alicia Brown, a young woman who made a television spot with me about 
violence because she had lost friends of hers, and she was speaking out 
not only personally but to all the people of this country against 
violence against our young people. I thank her for that, and I hope all 
of you will do that in your individual lives.
    I hope you young people will watch this torch as it travels through 
42 States and 15,000 miles. It will follow the work of countless 
volunteers who are trying to make this country better. They've cleaned 
roads, painted houses, even shuttled neighbors to places where they can 
see the torch passed. I want you all to cheer on our torchbearers and 
follow their example by holding high the torch of good citizenship in 
your own lives.
    And that's what I want to say, finally, about these Champions of 
Life behind me. Yes, they all have succeeded in athletics. Yes, many of 
them have succeeded against extraordinary odds, and every one of them 
has achieved something extraordinary against the odds. But what they are 
doing now is in some ways more important because they are trying to set 
an example for the next generation of champions. We should be grateful 
to them. And I'd like to ask you to recognize all of them with a warm 
round of applause. [Applause]
    The America these champions represent is a place where individual 
dreams must be realized through our common efforts, a place where all 
Americans who are willing to work hard can succeed, a place where we 
have different points of view and different heritages, but a place 
where, like the champions here today, we come together as a team, 
wearing the colors of liberty and freedom, respecting our honest 
differences and working together to help each of us clear life's highest 
hurdles together. One America, good for all, where we all work for the 
common good--this is the America we want the world to see in Atlanta, 
and this is the America that we want you young people to grow up in.
    Good luck. God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 12:01 p.m. in the stadium at Eastern High 
School. In his remarks, he referred to Buddy Lee, U.S. Olympic Greco-
Roman wrestling team member; Olympic Gold Medalists Bonnie Blair, Al 
Oerter, and Jeff Blatnick; and Ralph Neal, principal, Eastern High 
School.