More than 600 US Olympic athletes were honored at a Wednesday White House ceremony bringing together the teams that competed in the 2021 Tokyo Summer Games and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games including the Paralympics, the Associated Press reports.
“You represent the very soul of America,” President Joe Biden told the athletes. “It’s been a very divided nation … but you brought us together. No matter the divisions, when we see you compete, we feel a common pride in those three letters: USA.”
The athletes amassed more than 260 medals in the two sets of Olympic Games, with the Tokyo games being delayed a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.