George H.W. Bush: “These guys are fired up, listen. I am so sorry about the weather. We had a spectacular event planned out there. But it…”

“These guys are fired up, listen. I am so sorry about the weather. We had a spectacular event planned out there. But it can't diminish this. May I salute Bill Hybl, the president of the committee, and of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who's Chairman of our Fitness Committee and led our official delegation over there to see you all magnificent athletes. And welcome to the White House. It's an honor to have this marvelous U.S. Olympic team right here. I didn't recognize you almost without Bob Costas as a voice-over. But I want to welcome you to the White House and to extend this message: Whether you won a gold, silver, bronze, or simply gave your best, I believe that you all are winners in the eyes of your countrymen. You really set a great example. The last couple of weeks we were completely caught up here at home by this Olympic spirit. Barbara asked me to help rearrange a couple of chairs upstairs. And I said, ``What's the degree of difficulty?'' [Laughter] But on and on it went, everybody reflecting the glory that you all helped bring to this country for 16 days, over 100 hours. You showed how competition lifts the human spirit and that now that spirit really lifts the American character. When I was a kid I read about the game being well worth the candle burned long into the night. Now I'm told your nights in Barcelona were long, but I'm betting that that candle is going to still last longer. Each Olympics is one for the record books. This one was one for the history books.…”