Remarks by the First Lady at "Let's Move" School Visit with Olympians
River Terrace Elementary School
Washington, D.C.
11:3 A.M. EDT
MRS. OBAMA: Well, this is pretty cool, don’t you think?
AUDIENCE: Yes.
MRS. OBAMA: I mean, right here in your school, in your Multipurpose Room, you’ve got Olympians and Paralympians and reporters and teachers. And everybody is here because of you. Isn’t that pretty nice?
AUDIENCE: Yes.
MRS. OBAMA: But, you know, one thing I want you all to know about these magnificent men and women that I’m standing up with is that, you know, if you heard in their story, each of them had to work hard and overcome something to get where they are. It wasn’t easy.
With Hannah, she fell the first time out, as she said; had a very -- finished almost last. Can you imagine that? Has anybody ever finished last in something and really felt like, “I just am not good at this and I never want to do it again”? Right? Well, just imagine, what if Hannah had said that after her first efforts at the Olympics? She wouldn’t be here today with a Gold Medal. But instead of feeling defeated by that, she just worked a little harder, and now she’s a Gold Medalist.
Alana was a skier before she lost the use of her legs, and lost the use of her legs while skiing, right? She had a bad accident and lost the use of her legs. Now, she could have just said, “You know what, I’m just done.” Right? But instead, she not only kept doing her sport, but she got so strong that she can compete and win a medal.
And Shani -- you know, Shani didn’t grow up in a neighborhood where anybody talked about speed skating, because we’re both South Side Chicago, right, Shani? (Laughter.) South Side, South Side. (Laughter.) But we didn’t grow up with speed skating. How did you even know about speed skating? We had ice, but we didn’t have speed skating. So there was nothing in his life’s path that would have predicted that he could take up a sport
Washington, D.C.
11:3 A.M. EDT
MRS. OBAMA: Well, this is pretty cool, don’t you think?
AUDIENCE: Yes.
MRS. OBAMA: I mean, right here in your school, in your Multipurpose Room, you’ve got Olympians and Paralympians and reporters and teachers. And everybody is here because of you. Isn’t that pretty nice?
AUDIENCE: Yes.
MRS. OBAMA: But, you know, one thing I want you all to know about these magnificent men and women that I’m standing up with is that, you know, if you heard in their story, each of them had to work hard and overcome something to get where they are. It wasn’t easy.
With Hannah, she fell the first time out, as she said; had a very -- finished almost last. Can you imagine that? Has anybody ever finished last in something and really felt like, “I just am not good at this and I never want to do it again”? Right? Well, just imagine, what if Hannah had said that after her first efforts at the Olympics? She wouldn’t be here today with a Gold Medal. But instead of feeling defeated by that, she just worked a little harder, and now she’s a Gold Medalist.
Alana was a skier before she lost the use of her legs, and lost the use of her legs while skiing, right? She had a bad accident and lost the use of her legs. Now, she could have just said, “You know what, I’m just done.” Right? But instead, she not only kept doing her sport, but she got so strong that she can compete and win a medal.
And Shani -- you know, Shani didn’t grow up in a neighborhood where anybody talked about speed skating, because we’re both South Side Chicago, right, Shani? (Laughter.) South Side, South Side. (Laughter.) But we didn’t grow up with speed skating. How did you even know about speed skating? We had ice, but we didn’t have speed skating. So there was nothing in his life’s path that would have predicted that he could take up a sport