Over 600 Team USA Olympians and Paralympians welcomed at The White House

The ceremony, held on the South Lawn of the Executive Residence, was perhaps the first to include competitors of both Summer and Winter Olympiads, together with over 600 uniformed athletes filling a temporary grandstand.

Hundreds of invited guests including family members of attending sportspersons also enjoyed remarks by President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden and five-time bobsleigh medalist Elana Meyers Taylor. Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff also attended, receiving with the Bidens a set of special uniforms and shoes presented by the Olympians and Paralympians.

“The Bidens are a big sports family, and we love watching the Olympics,” said President Biden after brief remarks by the first lady, who led the Team USA delegation in Japan. “Jill came home from Tokyo, all she could do was talk about you all constantly. You think I’m kidding – I’m not!”

The president also expressed appreciation for the uniting spirit the athletes provide, and he cited 18 U.S. military veterans among the seated competitors. He also noted the challenges of COVID-19 navigated on the journeys to Tokyo and Beijing.

“The pandemic made training and competing especially difficult and draining, but you did it,” said Biden. “You all did it, and we were in awe not just of your incredible athleticism but your endurance and your state of mind -- but most of all your character. You all have such incredible character.”

“As a team … we’ve been through a lot,” said Meyers Taylor. “We came together, and we persevered, and we hope we’ve made this country proud.”

Opting to maintain a celebratory tone for the occasion, the president and first lady did not mention Olympians of other nations—such as the unresolved Russian doping controversies of Beijing 2022 that prevented medal presentations for the figure skating team competition—nor world events such as the Russo-Ukrainian War.

Also unmentioned: Team USA’s two-time women’s Olympic basketball champion and WNBA center Brittney Griner, who was detained for allegedly possessing vape pen cartridges with hashish oil upon arrival at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on Feb. 17.

In an interview with USA Today published Monday, U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland said the organization supports efforts to hasten Griner’s return stateside.

In a media scrum at a White House visit countdown event on Monday, Hirshland also called for sporting sanctions of Russia, according to the Washington Post. No basketball athletes from USA attended Wednesday’s South Lawn event, according to a list distributed to media by The White House Press Office.

Prior to the formal festivities, Team USA athletes arrived by tour buses aptly branded “Chariots for Hire” as a military band played Olympic theme music composed by John Williams and pop tunes of Whitney Houston and Billy Joel.

The Rose Garden featured tables stacked with healthy snacks, and some athletes posted selfies or other photos and videos including an impromptu dance from ground floor rooms of the Executive Mansion, with some interiors illuminated in red and blue. After the president’s South Lawn remarks, the Bidens and the vice president remained with the athletes for several minutes to shake hands, share congratulatory messages and pose for photos.

According to The White House Historical Association, U.S. Olympic athletes have visited the mansion as far back as 1924, with a Team USA delegation from Tokyo 1964 among the earliest-cited full-team ceremonies hosted by a sitting president. In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt hosted members of the U.S. Olympic team of London at his “Summer White House” home on the north shore of Long Island, N.Y.

Soon after Wednesday’s gathering, pole vault champion Katie Nageotte shared videos online, captioned with the message, “White House visit with Team USA! Truly a once in a lifetime opportunity!”