[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.