    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
    [April 23, 2002]
    [Pages 653-654]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Honoring the United States Winter Olympic and Paralympic Teams
    April 23, 2002

        Thank you all. Please be seated. Welcome to the south grounds of the
    White House. It's an honor to have you all here. Before I get started, I
    was wondering if anybody had their cell phone so I could speak to their
    mother. [Laughter]
        It is a great honor to host our Nation's Olympic and Paralympic
    athletes here at the White House. I've really been looking forward to
    this day. In February you showed the entire world the best of the
    American spirit. You competed with honor; you won with humility; and you
    made America proud. On behalf of all Americans, congratulate--I
    congratulate you and thank you for inspiring our country.
        It's good to welcome Mitt Romney back to the
    White House. Mitt, you did a fabulous job. I appreciate Lloyd
    Ward, the CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee, for
    being here. Thank you, Lloyd. And Sandy Baldwin, the president of the U.S. Olympic Committee--it's good
    to see both of you again. I want to thank Mel Martinez, who is a member of my Cabinet, for coming today. Mel,
    thank you for being here.
        And I'm glad to see Congressman Jim Ryun, who
    knows a little something about Olympics, a silver medalist who
    participated in the '64, '68, and '72 Olympics. Thank you for coming. I
    appreciate Tristan and Manuel being up here with me.
        Americans will remember the 2002 games because we had the honor of
    hosting them, because the level of competition was so high, and because
    we had the thrill of seeing our fellow Americans perform at the highest
    level and achieve unprecedented success.
        We watched a lot of our stars, a lot of our fellow citizens.
    Sarah Hughes--I was pleased to see her go from
    shock to joy as she learned she had won her first gold medal at the age
    of 16 years old. We cheered for Jim Shea, who just
    weeks after his grandfather's death followed in his victorious footsteps
    by winning a gold medal. We shared in the pride of Vonetta
    Flowers, whose gold medal in bobsledding
    made her the first African American to win a gold medal in an Olympic
    winter games. A lot of us had Ohno fever.
    [Laughter]
        And then America's Paralympics overcame great odds to excel in their
    sports. Sarah Will took home four gold medals in
    skiing, despite the fact that she's paralyzed from the waist down. Sarah
    Billmeier lost her left leg at 5 years old
    and this year skied away with a gold and two silvers. And Manuel
    Guerra contacted polio as an infant. This
    disease left him disabled in his left leg, but he pursued his love of
    hockey, and this year he and his teammates won the gold in sledge
    hockey.
        All of your victories required hard work and skill and the
    determination to meet your goals. They also required great support. The
    honors you won are a tribute to devoted coaches and trainers, to loving
    parents who sacrificed to help you realize your dreams, to friends and
    supporters, and to more than 30,000 volunteers who helped make the Salt
    Lake games possible.
        We've always supported our athletes here in America. But this year
    we looked at them with even greater pride and even more hope. You served
    as symbols of unity and strength and determination and of a peaceful
    competition and cooperation with people from all around the world. It
    was an important time for America, and you didn't let us down.
        Our 2002 Olympians and Paralympians showed tremendous character.
    These teams were uniquely American. After all, we had firefighters on
    our team; we had members of the Armed Services; we've got community
    volunteers. And your commitment to

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    your communities will serve you well as champions. You see, you're now
    more than athletes; you're role models--role models to children who
    dream of winning a gold medal themselves, role models to young people
    who need someone to look up to, someone to set a positive example for
    how they should live their lives and how they should treat others.
        This is a big responsibility, but the good news is you've all proven
    that you're up to the challenge. I want to thank you for representing
    the highest ideals of our Nation and for making America so proud.
        May God bless you all, and may God bless America.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:36 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Mitt Romney, president and chief
    executive officer, Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 winter
    Olympic games; Olympic gold medalists Tristan Gale, women's skeleton,
    Sarah Hughes, women's figure skating, Jim Shea, men's skeleton, Vonetta
    Flowers, women's bobsledding, and Apolo Anton Ohno, men's short track
    speedskating; and Paralympic gold medalists Manuel Guerra, Jr., goalie
    for the ice sledge hockey team, and Sarah Will and Sarah Billmeier,
    women's skiing. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a
    Spanish language transcript of these remarks.