[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 17 (Monday, April 29, 2002)]
[Pages 676-677]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
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 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

[[Page 677]]

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.