 Thank you very much Thank you all very much and Welcome to the White House Somebody once stopped Louis Armstrong on the street in New York City and asked him how to get to Carnegie Hall Practice he said practice practice practice Well, that's how each of you got to the Olympics and I must tell you we have hundreds of groups here each year But I can't think of any that I'm prouder of than you Years of practice and years of dedication Years of dreaming and working for your dreams have made each one of you metal or no metal an American champion And an American success story America cheered when Bonnie Blair Won her gold and bronze medals setting a world record in the 500 meters When she was asked how she did it Bonnie said I think I just got it on guts One thing I noticed on TV when Bonnie won that Blair bunch Bonnie's family as well as her friends from the Champaign Illinois Police Department cheering her on I Have a hunch that love and support of both family and community helped Bonnie find those guts While we're on gold Brian Boytano Is there anyone who soared the way you did in your gold medal-winning long program? Eric flame flew as he captured one silver in the 1500 meters and just missed three bronzes and Jill Watson and Peter opacard You were a thrill to watch as you captured your bronze medal And like Bonnie each of you has had that backing of family and community over the years And that backing has given you the strength to compete with grace and sportsmanship Debbie Thomas Sometimes when I look at everything you've done and are doing Olympic skater pre-med student. I wonder if your name should be Debbie or superwoman I know that you draw a lot of your strength from the Strength and love and example of your mother Yes, you were disappointed with your bronze But the grace with which you accepted your disappointment Won you a gold medal in the heart of every American talking about gold medals from America's heart There's one that goes to Dan Jansen for his courage and one that goes to his family, too their devotion to each other Captured the heart and earned the admiration of our entire land Dan you receive the u.s. Olympic committee's Olympic spirit award and everyone here and around the country Applauds the committee's choice You dedicated that honor to your sister her memory and your entire family And now you're back in competition in number one in world cup points Yes, your family is very precious in your life And if recently a cause of great sadness It is also a source of great strength and that strength is an inspiration to the entire world Now I won't forget the demonstration events freestyle skiing Gold in the aerials Melanie Palinick and my book anyone who even tries freestyle aerial skiing deserves a medal And Silvers in men's and women's ballet Lane Spina and Jan Boer Finally in disabled skiing skiing. We had a sweep in the women's modified giant slalom Diana Golden Kathy Gentile Silver that was gold for Diana Golden. I had left out one of the goals didn't I? Kathy Gentile silver Martha Hill bronze while Greg Monino won a silver in the men's Your performance has inspired us all There's been a lot Now there's been a lot of talk too much talk in my opinion about the number of medals that weren't won the heart of the Olympics is The sport and the competition It's the exuberance of the hockey team it's Bonnie Warner breaking new ground in American women's luge It's the pride of Mary in Indiana at the performance of Wayne and Natalie seabold in pairs skating And yes, it's the spirit of Pam Fletcher who returned to the slopes two hours After breaking her leg in a practice run to cheer for her teammates It's striving with the support and love of family and community to be the best you possibly can be Because you love your sport and win lose or draw you love the competition and for that all of you get gold medals There's one thing you can remember above all Just being here in those uniforms and being where you were Put you a world apart From just literally millions of other people and every one of you has a right to be proud Thank you all being here and God bless you. I think winning medals is one thing, but I Think the thing that all and will most remember about Calgary is The outstanding support that not only all of our teammates gave us But that we got from our own country It filled me personally with so much patriotism and I think speaking on behalf of all the athletes that We're very appreciative to be a part of this country and we really respected a lot Bonnie Blair would like to make a presentation to make President Reagan a part of our team Mr. President as president of the United States Olympic Committee I'd like to thank you and I want to tell you the president of the United States that I think that we had 165 heroes representing the United States up in Calgary Men and women who won their regionals their nationals their trials and since then I've gone on to win world championships and and World Cups at each One of them. There's a hundred and sixty-five stories of personal struggles personal sacrifices not always sacrifice of their time but economic sacrifice and the Congress of the United States and you Mr. President have done something to really help the economic sacrifice And that's the passage of the coin act which is going to bring new resources to help support these athletes In their Olympic challenges and on behalf of the United States Olympic Committee and this team and the summer team going to Seoul I want to thank the Congress and the president for the coin act. Thank you very much