布什在冬奥庆功会上的演讲

布什在冬奥庆功会上的演讲

THE PRESIDENT: 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. (Applause.)

It's good to welcome Mitt Romney back to the White House. Mitt, you did a fabulous job. (Applause.) 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. (Applause.) 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.

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