Perhaps sensing this enthusiasm, Biden’s brief speech to the athletes centered little on the coronavirus that pressured a year-long delay in the Summer Olympics or the protocols and restrictions at each the Tokyo and Beijing Games that left many athletes feeling remoted and unable to take pleasure in the Games the means groups had in the previous. Instead, Biden talked about accomplishment and achievement and inspiration.
“I said to the world leaders, to my counterparts, ‘There’s no quit in America; there’s just no quit,’ and you’re the quintessential example of that,” he mentioned as the athletes behind him roared. “Following your example, you gave people strength to never give up as well. None.”
He advised a story of how he was as soon as requested to outline America and had replied in a single phrase: “Possibility.”
“We believe in America that anything is possible, and you are the explanation of what we need,” Biden mentioned. “You are all possibilities. You represent the very soul of America. That’s not hyperbole. You generally do.
“We’re a very divided nation, but you brought us together. For no matter the divisions, we see you compete, and we feel a common pride in those three letters: USA. It crosses all political spectrums.”
Neither the president nor first girl Jill Biden, who additionally spoke, talked about Russia, whose doping scandals have loomed over the previous 4 Olympics. Just two days earlier, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland mentioned Russia ought to be “sanctioned” by the worldwide sports activities neighborhood for its invasion of Ukraine and for its doping controversies.
Biden didn’t discuss the 9 U.S. determine skaters who nonetheless haven’t acquired their medals after ending second to Russia in Beijing’s staff occasion. The International Olympic Committee’s refusal to award any medals for the occasion till the completion of investigation into Russian skater Kamila Valieva’s optimistic take a look at for a banned substance has been a nice frustration for U.S. Olympic officers and the skaters themselves.
No motive was given for why Biden didn’t tackle what is likely to be the largest situation dealing with the two groups gathered at the White House. The lingering frustration over not having a medal stays clear for individuals who took half in the staff occasion.
“You know what would take the sting off [of Beijing] a lot is finally receiving our gold medals,” skater Vincent Zhou mentioned. “But we really can’t do much about that; it’s not in our hands.”
It was the solely tense feeling on an in any other case ebullient day. Biden lingered long after his remarks, posing for selfies with many of the Olympians and slowly strolling alongside a line of Paralympic athletes in wheelchairs, talking for a number of moments with every of them.
Discus thrower Reggie Jagers III later mentioned Biden took a have a look at his 6-foot-2 body and mentioned: “You should be behind me protecting me.” Biden went on to inform Jagers about his personal experiences throwing the javelin in highschool.
“We were chopping it up,” Jagers mentioned.
A number of ft from Jagers, star swimmer Katie Ladecky smiled.
“It really does feel like a family,” she mentioned of the group of athletes who have been beginning to go away the grounds at ceremony’s end. “We have all these shared experiences and have been to all of the same places and been through all the same kinds of things, all the covid testing, all of it.”
But the happiest athlete may need been Kaillie Humphries, the world’s most profitable feminine bobsled driver, who left Canada for the United States three years in the past after submitting harassment claims towards Canada’s coach and needed to struggle to get U.S. citizenship in time to compete in Beijing.
Wearing the gold medal she received for the monobob, Humphries talked excitedly about touring the White House and seeing work of George Washington and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and a statue of Abraham Lincoln — all individuals she had discovered about whereas learning for her citizenship take a look at.
“To be able to be at the White House and to know these are presidents and first ladies and know what it means to sing the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ and to be proud of the country I represent and to be in the White House all in a very short time frame, it was amazing,” she mentioned.
Almost 45 minutes after the ceremony had ended, Biden had left, and most of the different American athletes had cleared the garden. Humphries appeared round, observing the large mansion adorned with Team USA banners. On a day that turned about celebrating the most difficult two years U.S. Olympic groups have had in a long time, it appeared becoming that the latest American Olympian can be one of the final to depart by way of the White House gates.