Olympic bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor speaks at the White House Wednesday, May 4, as seen here via a live YouTube video from the PBS News Hour. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

Olympic bobsled pilot Elana Meyers Taylor was the guest speaker Wednesday, May 4 at a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House to celebrate the accomplishments of U.S. Olympians and Paralympians over the past two years.

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden welcomed members of Team USA who competed in the Tokyo Summer Olympics and Paralympics in 2021 — delayed one year due to the coronavirus pandemic — and the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics earlier this year.

“Hello, Olympians and Paralympians,” Jill Biden said. “Welcome to the White House.”

Mrs. Biden mentioned seeing three-on-three women’s basketball for the first time during the Tokyo games. The U.S. team — Stefanie Dolson, Allisha Gray, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young — won a gold medal.

“I was on the edge of my seat the whole time,” Mrs. Biden said. “It was everything I love about sports. The moment when the team seems to know each others’ thoughts. The air is electric with that connection. When the crowd is breathing with one breath. Our hearts racing to the rhythm of each thump of the ball. Every basket pure joy.”

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at the White House May 4, as seen here via a live YouTube video from the PBS News Hour. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

Mrs. Biden said only one thing mattered to the crowd during those games:

“We were all Team USA. That’s the power of what all of you do.”

Mrs. Biden led the U.S. delegation to Japan, but no representatives from the government represented the U.S. in Beijing. The nation held a diplomatic boycott to protest China’s human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.

The president said the Bidens are a big sports family and they loved watching the Olympics.

“When Jill came home from Tokyo, all she could do was talk about you all, constantly,” he said. “You think I’m kidding. I’m not.”

Lake Placid Mayor Art Devlin and village Trustee Jackie Kelly pose in front of the White House Wednesday, May 4 before a ceremony with U.S. Olympians. (Photo provided)

The president apologized that the summer Olympians had to wait one year to compete in the 2020 games.

“You’ve been through so damn, darn much,” he said, self-correcting himself, which drew laughter and cheers from the crowd. “Been through so much. Six hundred Olympians and Paralympians from the Summer Games in Tokyo and the Winter Games in Beijing. Athletes from all across America, all kinds of backgrounds, including 18 veterans from the United States Armed Forces who are here today.”

The president introduced Meyers Taylor, who won a silver medal in the first-ever Olympic monobob event and a bronze medal in the two-woman event at Beijing. Representing USA Bobsled and Skeleton, based in Lake Placid and Colorado Springs, her hometown is Douglasville, Georgia. This was her fourth Olympics; she won a bronze medal in 2010 at Vancouver, a silver in 2014 at Sochi and a silver in 2018 at Pyeongchang. She carried the U.S. flag during the closing ceremony at Beijing.

“You know she’s devoted; she even married a bobsledder,” the president said. “She trained harder after becoming a mom. And after a silver and bronze at Beijing, she became the most decorated woman ever to compete in Olympic bobsled and the most decorated Black athlete in Winter Olympic history.”

After shaking hands with the president, Meyers Taylor addressed the crowd wearing her two Beijing medals around her neck.

“What an honor it is to be here today,” Meyers Taylor said. “This is a moment that is truly beyond the imagination of many of our dreams, one that many of us thought that would never be possible.

“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 made this country proud. We are Team USA.

“This is one amazing group behind me. I hope that many of you get to know them. And those who couldn’t join us today, we are one team, bonded forever by the incredible honor of representing this great nation and wearing our flag.”

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Lake Placid VIPs

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Lake Placid Mayor Art Devlin was invited to the May 4 ceremony at the White House and brought along village Trustee Jackie Kelly as a guest. Devlin assumed the invitation was sent because of Lake Placid’s role in the Olympic movement.

“It was very impressive,” Devlin said Wednesday afternoon. It was memorable.”

“We sat next to the mayor of Birmingham, Alabama,” Kelly said, adding that it was an event worth checking off a bucket list.

Birmingham will host the 2022 World Games in July. Lake Placid is poised to host the 2023 Winter World University Games in January.