{"id":222879,"date":"2016-09-29T10:45:11","date_gmt":"2016-09-29T17:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=222879"},"modified":"2017-06-14T13:08:28","modified_gmt":"2017-06-14T20:08:28","slug":"president-obama-welcomes-u-s-olympic-and-paralympic-teams-to-white-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/president-obama-welcomes-u-s-olympic-and-paralympic-teams-to-white-house\/","title":{"rendered":"President Obama Welcomes U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams to White House"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. President\u00a0Barack Obama<\/strong>\u00a0and First Lady Michelle Obama\u00a0<\/strong>welcomed the members of the American Olympic and Paralympic teams to the White House to celebrate their accomplishments over the past two months in Rio.<\/p>\n

The visit took place Thursday as athletes had the opportunity to mingle with the Obamas\u00a0and Vice President\u00a0Joe Biden<\/strong> before the President\u00a0spoke in front of the assembled crowd of athletes.<\/p>\n

“Our Olympians came in first so many more times than anybody else,” Obama said to open his speech. “It wasn\u2019t even close\u201446 golds, not to brag.”<\/p>\n

Obama’s many individual shout-outs included Olympic swimmers\u00a0Simone Manuel\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Katie Ledecky<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“Only one African American has ever won an Olympic swimming gold, and that was Simone Manuel!” he said.<\/p>\n

Obama admitted to being “nervous that [Ledecky]\u00a0was going to ask me to hold all her medals when she was speaking [today] or something. She obliterates her own records in the 400 and the 800. She LAPPED the field in the 800. You all see it on TV\u2014like there was no one else in the pool?”<\/p>\n

Obama also called out\u00a0Michael Phelps<\/strong> for breaking a 2000-year-old record for\u00a0most career medals dating back to the ancient Olympic Games in Greece, as well as Paralymic swimmer\u00a0Brad Snyder<\/strong> for winning three gold medals after losing his eyesight while serving in the military in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

While wrapping up his speech, Obama joked\u00a0that “if I keep going longer [in the speech], I\u2019m going to get the Phelps face from you guys.”<\/p>\n

Obama expressed how much he admired how\u00a0the various Olympic and Paralympic teams came together in support of one goal:\u00a0representing their country to the best of their abilities.<\/p>\n

“I want to say just how proud all of you made not just Michelle and me but every American,” he said. “We admire your athleticism but also your character.”<\/p>\n

Notably, absent, of course, were\u00a0Ryan Lochte<\/strong>,\u00a0Jimmy Feigen<\/strong>,\u00a0Gunnar Bentz\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Jack Conger<\/strong> as part of the penalties<\/a> for their behavior early in the morning of August 14 in Rio.<\/p>\n

Tweets from White House Visit<\/h3>\n
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Today’s office: @WhiteHouse<\/a>. #swimunited<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/j1RLOXkdow<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 USA Swimming (@USASwimming) September 29, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n