[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
[June 23, 2000]
[Pages 1233-1236]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the United States Olympic Training Center Community in
Chula Vista, California
June 23, 2000

    Thank you very much. Thank you, Deena, for 
the wonderful introduction and for the way you represent our country--
and for the little local reference to Arkansas. I liked that. [Laughter]
    Thank you, Bill Hybl, for the work you do with 
the Olympic Committee. And I want to say a special word of thanks to Pat 
Milkovich for the wonderful tour of the 
training center today. We had a great time, and I thank you so much.
    I want to thank Representative Bob Filner, 
the Congressman from this district, for being with me today and for his 
support. Someone just thanked him on the way for being against having 
all that cargo noise coming over here and interrupting your training 
center. So, I figure he'll take a lot of heat for that position. So, 
somebody who likes it might as well clap. [Laughter]
    I want to thank the Bonita Vista High School Marching Band for 
playing. Let's give them a hand; they're great. [Applause] Some of their 
members have been selected to perform at the opening ceremonies in 
Sydney, and I know they'll have a good time. I'd like to thank Mayor 
Horton from Chula Vista and the Chula 
Vista council members who are here and the county officials who are 
here. And Representative Susan Davis, the 
candidate for Congress, thank you for coming. I'm glad to see all of you 
here.
    Most of all, I'd like to thank the athletes and the coaches and the 
trainers that gave me a tour around this magnificent facility today. I 
had a great time. And I realize that most of these things I can't do 
anymore--[laughter]--but I really had a great time.
    Deena talked about perseverance and hard work, but I want to tell 
you a little something about her. She was too 
humble to mention her own experience with cross country championships in 
Portugal this year. About 100 yards into the race her throat closed up, 
and she couldn't breathe. After 5 kilometers, she blacked out and

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fell. It turned out a bee had flown into her mouth and stung her in the 
throat. But she got up and kept going, and thanks to her, the women's 
team still left Portugal with a medal. She gave new meaning to the term 
``making a beeline.'' Give her a hand; she was great. [Applause]
    One of the real highlights of our White House years for Hillary, 
Chelsea, and me has been the chance to be a part of the Olympic 
experience, cheering on our teams from Lillehammer to Atlanta to Nagano 
and now to Sydney, where at least I know my daughter is going. My wife 
is in a competition of her own, and I am informed that my services may 
be needed elsewhere; but our daughter informed us that she would be in 
Sydney to cheer the teams on.
    I am so glad to have this chance to see all the work that you're 
doing to prepare for the games here. You know, just moments before he 
won one of his gold medals, the legendary Jesse Owens said, ``A lifetime 
of training for just 10 seconds.'' In the magic of the Olympic moment, 
it may be easy for those of us who aren't part of it, except as 
spectators, to lose sight of all that had to be done before: the years 
and years of getting up before the Sun, the time away from your loved 
ones, the hard work, the sacrifice, and something that's often 
overlooked, the pain.
    So on behalf of all the people of this country. I'd like to just say 
more than anything else, I wanted to come here to say to these team 
members and those who want to make the Olympic teams, we appreciate you; 
we thank you; and we are very, very proud of you.
    I have thought a lot, especially in the Olympic season, about why 
the Olympics mean so much to people all over the world, and especially 
why the American people get so completely caught up in them, why they 
capture our imagination and our hearts. Obviously, we love athletics. 
And we are highly competitive people, as that little in-your-face rap 
that Deena gave us showed about the American 
team.
    But I think there's even more to it than the love of competition and 
athletics. I think people like the Olympics, in large measure, because 
the Olympics work pretty much the way we think life ought to work, the 
way we think the world ought to work: Everybody gets an opportunity to 
play, regardless of race or station in life--and increasingly, thank 
goodness, regardless of gender. People are valued based on their 
performance and their effort, not their posturing. People get a chance 
to do their best, and also to bring out the best in one another. And 
everybody, including those that don't win medals, is better off for 
having tried and given his or her best. You win by playing by the rules 
and by doing it well.
    I think we like the Olympics because we all think the world ought to 
work that way. And we know if other forms of human endeavor worked that 
way, we'd be better off. One of the reasons I ran for President 8 years 
ago is that I thought that Washington ought to work more like that. I 
thought it ought to be more about production and less about posturing. 
And it's tough for people in politics, because they know that if they 
produce, they may not get on the evening news. But if they posture, they 
can get there.
    And so I hope part of what will happen in this is that the Olympic 
spirit will catch up in Washington and will actually produce some 
things: medicine for our seniors on Medicare and a Patients' Bill of 
Rights and an increase in the minimum wage, a lot of other things we 
could be doing that we could actually reach agreement on across party 
lines, even though it may cost everybody a few seconds on the evening 
news. The rules of the game there are too often, ``I've got an idea. 
You've got an idea. Let's fight.'' [Laughter] And you give us all a good 
sober reminder that in the end, when it's all said and done, we're going 
to be judged not by what we said but by what we've done. And I thank you 
for that.
    Now, let me just say, this day is special for a lot of reasons. It's 
Olympic Day. On this day more than 100 years ago, the modern Olympic 
games were founded. It was also 100 years ago this summer that women 
were first allowed to compete in the Olympic games, and they did, all 11 
of them. [Laughter] This year more than 4,000 women will compete in the 
Olympic games, the largest number ever.
    Let me say a couple of other things about this day. On this day 60 
years ago one of the greatest Olympians of all time was born, Wilma 
Rudolph. She won her first medal the last time the Olympics were held in 
Australia, in 1956. And finally, today is special because it's also on 
this day 28 years ago that Title IX became the law of the land.

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    Now, it's interesting that all this stuff happened on this day. But 
Title IX has really enabled America to live up to the Olympic spirit to 
give everybody a chance, to give everybody a chance to play by the 
rules, everybody a chance to live up to his and her God-given abilities.
    Before Title IX, there were 300,000 girls in high school sports. 
Today, there are more than 2 million. It's not a coincidence that in 
Atlanta, the first generation of women to grow up under Title IX--
literally to have their whole lives in Title IX--went on to win the gold 
medal in soccer, the gold medal in softball, the gold medal in 
gymnastics, and the gold medal in basketball. It works.
    Believe it or not, I found out not long ago that Title IX's 
requirement for equal opportunity in sports and in education does not 
apply to the education and training programs run by the Federal 
Government itself. So on this anniversary of Title IX, I am actually 
signing an Executive order that applies Title IX to the Federal 
Government's programs and prohibits discrimination of any kind in 
federally conducted education and training programs.
    Let me just say one other thing about the importance of broadening 
opportunities here. I would like to ask all of you who are presently 
athletes or who have been or who are otherwise involved in this Olympic 
movement to continue to share your gifts, not only on the field of 
competition but in the playing field of life, and especially with our 
young people--and with those whose job it is to raise them well.
    Let me just give you one example of something that really concerns 
me. Over the last 20 years, too many of our schools have abandoned their 
music, their arts, and their physical education programs. You may have 
noticed that last week I went to New York City to be on the ``Today 
Show'' to talk about the VH1 music in school program, where they worked 
so hard to get instruments back into schools so schools can start their 
school music programs again. There is so much evidence that a lot of 
young people learn better if they have access early to music and arts 
programs. But it's also really troubling to me that so many schools have 
just completely abandoned physical education programs for all kids, 
while maintaining team sports.
    Now, a lot of the athletes behind me may be going to the Olympics in 
sports for which there was no competition in their schools. And they 
wouldn't necessarily have been football or basketball players, or even 
soccer players, if their schools had competitive soccer.
    Listen to this. The percentage of high school students in daily 
physical education has declined more than 30 percent in the last 10 
years. Today, fewer than one in three students are enrolled in phys-ed 
every day. Meanwhile, the percentage of young people who are overweight 
has doubled in the same time period. The two things are closely related. 
And we know that it has an effect on learning, on self-image, on self-
esteem, on a sense of what you can do.
    Today I'm directing our Secretary of Education, Dick Riley, and Donna Shalala, 
the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to work with the U.S. 
Olympic Committee, our physical fitness council, and others to try to 
find ways to encourage more young people to get fit and stay fit. And 
I'm asking Congress to establish a foundation that will leverage the 
energy, creativity, and resources of the private sector in furthering 
the mission of the President's Council on Physical Fitness, to help 
every young person in America to live an active, safe, and healthy life.
    I hope you'll help us do that. We need to remember that not every 6- 
or 8- or 10-year-old can be on the football team or on a basketball team 
or even on a soccer team, and all of our kids need access to healthy 
lifestyles, good exercise, and basic good athletic habits. We need your 
help in achieving that goal.
    Finally, let me say I'd give anything to be in Sydney. I thank you 
for your dedication, your courage, for reaching deep inside, for giving 
your heart and soul to this. And I want you to win all the medals you 
can, just like Deena said. But I want you to realize that by what you 
have accomplished already and by the way you have done it, you have 
already made your country very proud.
    You carry more than our flag to Sydney. You carry the spirit of our 
country, our hopes, our dreams, our prayers. And all of us will be with 
you all the way.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 10:55 a.m. on the terrace at the U.S. 
Olympic Training Center Visitors Center. In his remarks, he referred to 
athlete Deena Drossin, who introduced the President; Bill Hybl, 
president, U.S. Olympic Committee: Pat Milkovich, director, U.S. Olympic 
Training

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Center; Mayor Shirley A. Horton of Chula Vista; State Assemblywoman 
Susan Davis, a candidate for California's 49th Congressional District. 
The President also referred to Title IX--Prohibition of Sex 
Discrimination, part of Public Law 92-318, the Education Amendments of 
1972. The Executive order is listed in Appendix D at the end of this 
volume.