Olympians visit Washington, D.C. (White House celebration on May 4, 2022)

[Sylvia]

The White House's ceremony on the South Lawn for the 2020 Summer & 2022 Wnter Olympians on Wednesday, May 4 is scheduled to start at 11:30 am Eastern time (eta that the replay starts just before the 20-min. mark): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb6LJFzFOMY&t=1180s

 

[Sylvia]

Jason Brown's photos (his IG stories include his visit yesterday to Seaton Elementary School): https://www.instagram.com/p/CdIBTgXuMQ9/
ETA World champion & Olympic fencer Nzingha Prescod's post about their school visit: https://www.instagram.com/p/CdHInjFJQhy/

Alexa Knierim's photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CdIobD5u4gR/ & https://www.instagram.com/p/CdIuZqdON79/

Brandon Frazier's photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CdIv5JGrWSF/

Ashley Cain's photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CdIrjE9rSFX/

Zach Donohue's photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CdIz0kjrWh5/

Madison Hubbell shared a fun moment from a Team USA reception: https://www.instagram.com/p/CdIwszagAMn/

Jean-Luc Baker's pics ("Team USA takes on DC"): https://www.instagram.com/p/CdG63XBOZN3/

Alysa Liu on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial (and 3 more pics): https://www.instagram.com/p/CdH9C9GuPWr/

Mariah Bell dressed up for yesterday's reception: https://www.instagram.com/p/CdHm2yTj4kX/

Many of these skaters have Instagram stories too, including Vincent Zhou & Kaitlin Hawayek.

 

[Sylvia]

How many Summer & Winter Olympians can you get pics with?

Mariah (inside and outside the White House) with Jordan Chiles, Brittany Bowe, Katie Ledecky, Maame Biney, Erin Jackson (wearing her gold medal) & Chloe Kim: https://www.instagram.com/p/CdJLSyJuD4M/

ETA:

Madi Hubbell in a group with VP Harris and, predictably , some of the plants & flower arrangements inside the WH: https://www.instagram.com/p/CdJMx4Yu0l5/

More from Jean-Luc: https://www.instagram.com/p/CdJNf4CuUuD/

And a post from Kaitlin H.: https://www.instagram.com/p/CdJK0HWuZCi/

Brandon's lift with Alexa inside the WH & other shots outside (edited in correct link): https://www.instagram.com/p/CdJNFrPrzhK/

Alexa in the WH library: https://www.instagram.com/p/CdJMP0MOsyP/

 

[Wyliefan]

@Sylvia, those last two links are to the same picture.

 

[sk9tingfan]

Some immediate reactions:

- Where was Nathan? Surprised to not see him there.

- Loved seeing Biden petting the service dog. It's obvious that dogs love him. You certainly would not have seen the former guy ever do that!

 

[Sylvia]

Some immediate reactions:

- Where was Nathan? Surprised to not see him there.

Also Evan & Madison C., Karen and Timothy are not in any of the photos I've seen.

 

[annie720]

Also Evan & Madison C., Karen and Timothy are not in any of the photos I've seen.

I assume Karen is still recovering from illness. Maybe the others are being very cautious about crowds. That's a very large group of people squeezed together.

 

[sk9tingfan]

Also Evan & Madison C., Karen and Timothy are not in any of the photos I've seen.

Those are also puzzling for various reasons.

 

[Sylvia]

How many Summer & Winter Olympians can you get pics with?

Shared by Ashley: https://www.instagram.com/p/CdJOlh9LLsm/

And Zach's "White House photo dump": https://www.instagram.com/p/CdJdKqrrwi7/

 

[Debbie S]

I assume Karen is still recovering from illness. Maybe the others are being very cautious about crowds. That's a very large group of people squeezed together.

Do we know for a fact that Karen had an illness? I've seen speculation but nothing confirmed by Karen or anyone official.

 

[Wyliefan]

I can't find the tweet now, but someone who was at Friday's show reported that Karen only skated half the show, and then there was an announcement that she had to drop out due to illness. She's been out ever since.

 

[Debbie S]

I can't find the tweet now, but someone who was at Friday's show reported that Karen only skated half the show, and then there was an announcement that she had to drop out due to illness. She's been out ever since.

I was at Hershey on Friday and there was no announcement about Karen, unless this person was talking about the meet and greet. All I've seen on social media is speculation that Karen was sick or injured but nothing official by Karen or SOI.

 

[Spikefan]

Today is Timothy’s birthday so it’s possible they chose not to go to spend it with loved ones.

 

[Sylvia]

Click here to view Getty Images photos of the White House event

Transcript of President Biden's remarks to Team USA: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing...am-usa-olympic-and-paralympic-athletes-visit/

Transcript of Dr. Jill Biden's speech before her husband's: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing...am-usa-olympic-and-paralympic-athletes-visit/

Some articles...

NBC Olympics:

President Biden hosts Olympic, Paralympic teams at White House

President Joe Biden feted about 600 members of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams from the Tokyo and Beijing Games at the White House on Wednesday.

olympics.nbcsports.com

Biden introduced five-time Olympic medalist bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor to give a speech. “That’s my pilot!” an athlete, likely her bronze-medal teammate Sylvia Hoffman, yelled behind them.
“This is a moment that is truly beyond the imagination of many of our dreams,” said Meyers Taylor, who came out of quarantine in China to win silver and bronze medals. “As a team, Olympians, Paralympians, summer athletes, winter athletes, we’ve been through a lot. A pandemic. A postponement. A war. But this team is resilient. We came together, and we persevered, and we hope we’ve made this country proud.”
Biden, standing to the side, interjected.
“You did,” he said.

Associated Press (I was expecting to see a quote from Zach since his name was cited in the article but no):

Biden says Olympians brought a bit of unity to weary nation

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday hailed Team USA for bringing a bit of unity to a pandemic weary nation as he hosted a White House celebration with about 600 athletes from this year's Winter Olympics in Beijing and the coronavirus-delayed Summer Games held in 2021 in Tokyo.

apnews.com

President Joe Biden on Wednesday hailed Team USA for bringing a bit of unity to a pandemic weary nation as he hosted a White House celebration with about 600 athletes from this year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing and the coronavirus-delayed Summer Games held in 2021 in Tokyo.
Among the athletes at the South Lawn ceremony were swimmer and seven-time gold medalist Katie Ledecky, celebrated bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor and ice dancer Zachary Donohue, as well as competitors from the past two Paralympic Games.

People:

President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris Meet Team USA Olympians and Paralympians at White House

Dr. Jill Biden spoke to the more than 600 gathered athletes, who competed in the Tokyo Summer Games and Beijing Winter Games, before introducing her husband as an "even greater fan of Team USA"

people.com

 

[Sylvia]

I'm happy (and relieved) that Vincent Zhou was able to enjoy his D.C. trip : https://www.instagram.com/p/CdKBcDwL8-2/

 

[Frau Muller]

Some immediate reactions:

- Where was Nathan? Surprised to not see him there.

- Loved seeing Biden petting the service dog. It's obvious that dogs love him. You certainly would not have seen the former guy ever do that!

Nathan pulled “a Scherbakova” by not joining the team’s visit to his nation’s leader! Protest?

 

[alizadavida]

Do we know for a fact that Karen had an illness? I've seen speculation but nothing confirmed by Karen or anyone official.

They said she was out for illness at the Saturday and Sunday stars on ice shows - They being the announcement people. I was there Saturday and can 100% confirm she was not (I was at the show and meet and greet)

Also - Isn't Tim a very private person - They do not use social media it all so would make sense that they weren't at the white house? It's Nathan, Chock, and bates that I'm nervous about and really hoping they're just celebrating bday/time with family and not sick.

 

[Wyliefan]

Someone on Twitter put up a photo of Nathan in New York yesterday, so he's all right. I still haven't heard anything about Madi, Evan, or Timothy, though.

 

[Sylvia]

@katmari posted this "Team USA [Washington D.C.] Week Vlog by Jason" (2 min. video uploaded by USFS) in his fan thread:

Same video is also posted on USFS' Twitter/Instagram/Facebook accounts.