领先于东京奥运会闭幕式上，美国总统乔·拜登和第一夫人吉尔·拜登在与过去两周参加比赛的数十名奥运选手进行Zoom通话时，对美国队赞不绝口，总统告诉运动员，他们“真正代表了美国。”
拜登说:“你代表了我们所代表的每一件事。“这不仅仅是你的运动能力，这是你的道德勇气。你表现出的勇气。真正承受压力的人的勇气...和心理压力。”
拜登特别指出游泳运动员凯蒂·莱德基和赛跑运动员以赛亚·朱厄特，感谢他们在比赛中表现出的体育精神，并感谢西蒙妮·比尔斯在照顾好自己的精神健康后决定重返决赛。
他对所有运动员说:“这些是全世界人民最关注的事情，比我作为你们的总统或其他人在公共生活中所做的任何事情都要多。“他们得到了我们作为美国人的印象——我们是谁。你如此优雅得体地对待自己，这让我感到无比骄傲。”
总统说，他们让美国人的心“膨胀”，“在许多方面恢复了美国的灵魂。”拜登还邀请他们在秋天去白宫，“这样全国都能看到你，我也能更多地吹嘘你。”
他补充说，“大约有10件事我很想谈谈，但我会等到你去白宫。”
吉尔·拜登感谢运动员们在她出席开幕式并在东京期间观看了几场比赛。
她说:“我们为你们所有人感到无比自豪，你们为代表我们的国家和所有美国人所做的一切都是如此。
马提亚斯·施拉德/美联社
美国选手卡拉·温格尔参加女子标枪的资格赛...
标枪运动员卡拉·温格尔被选为美国队闭幕式的旗手，她说，她“非常荣幸”拥有这个“闭幕时刻”，因为这将是她最后一届奥运会。
“他们选择你是因为你的性格，孩子，”总统告诉温格。
拜登首先提到的运动员之一朱厄特也讨论了他在800米半决赛中的病毒时刻，当时他绊倒了，导致博茨瓦纳的尼耶尔·阿莫斯摔倒，运动员们互相搀扶着一起慢跑穿过终点线。
拜登告诉他，那一时刻“对全世界产生了深远的影响”，并感谢他展示的体育精神。
拜登对朱厄特说:“美国在领导世界时，不是以我们的力量为榜样，而是以我们的榜样的力量为榜样。“这是上帝的真理。你就是一个缩影。我们为此感谢你。”
载正弘/美联社
美国的以赛亚·朱厄特和博茨瓦纳的尼耶尔·阿莫斯(右)在摔倒后握手...
2020年奥运会最大的竞争对手之一，西蒙妮·比尔斯，有几分钟的时间来谈论她决定退出大部分比赛的决定关注她的心理健康，说这“可能是我最大的成就之一。”
她说:“如果你在我年轻的时候问我，我可能会太固执，但在那一点上，我知道我只需要后退一步，让其他女孩上去做她们的工作，我对她们处理一切的方式感到非常自豪，尤其是最后一刻我不得不后退一步。
她说，在体育运动中更多地讨论心理健康是积极的，因为他们是“运动员之前的人类”。
总统称赞了比尔斯的选择，称她是“世界上最伟大的运动员之一。”
“你有勇气说，‘我需要一些帮助。我需要一些帮助，我需要一些时间“你给了每个人一个榜样，”他说。你猜怎么着，你又回到那该死的横梁上了。"
拜登说，他一直认为自己是一名“非常好的运动员”，年轻时曾参加过棒球和足球比赛，但他承认横梁“是最让我害怕的东西。”
“在4英寸的横梁上做翻转是我去炼狱的想法，”他开玩笑地说。“在我尝试之前，我会尝试其他任何东西。”
参加这次比赛的其他运动员包括游泳运动员莉迪亚·雅各布，赢得金牌的17岁阿拉斯加人100米蛙泳;体操运动员杰德·凯里，获得自由体操金牌;游泳运动员扎克·苹果，曾获得4×100自由泳接力和4×100混合泳接力金牌;以及体操运动员乔丹·奇莱斯，他在团体全能比赛中获得银牌。
美国将连续第七次在奥运会奖牌总数上领先。
President Biden praises Simone Biles, Team USA in virtual call with Olympians
Ahead of theTokyo Olympicsclosing ceremony, President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden were full of praise for Team USA during a Zoom call with dozens of Olympians who competed in the past two weeks, with the president telling the athletes they "really represented America."
"You represented every single thing that we stand for," Biden said. "It wasn't just your athletic ability, it was your moral courage. The courage you show. The courage those who are under real pressure ... and phycological pressure."
Biden singled outswimmer Katie Ledeckyand runner Isaiah Jewett for their displays of sportsmanship during their competitions and thanked Simone Biles for deciding to return for her final event after taking care of her mental health.
"These are the things that people look at around the world more than anything that I do as your president or other people do in public life," he said to all the athletes. "They get the impression of who we are as Americans -- who we are. And your handling yourself with such grace and such, such decency, it just -- you made me so damn proud."
The president said that they made American hearts "swell" and "restored the soul of America in so many ways." Biden also invited them to the White House in the fall, "so the nation can see you and I can brag more on you."
He added that "there's about 10 events that I'd love to talk about, but I'll wait until you get to the White House."
Jill Biden thanked the athletes for the "warm welcome" she received when sheattended for the opening ceremonyand watched several of the competitions during her time in Tokyo.
"We just could not feel more proud of all of you, and everything you did in representing our country and all Americans feel the exact same way," she said.
Javelin thrower Kara Winger, who was chosen as Team USA's flag bearer for the closing ceremony, said she was "incredibly honored" to have this "closure moment" since it will be her final Olympic Games.
"They picked you because of your character, kid," the president told Winger.
One of the athletes Biden first referenced, Jewett, also discussed the viral moment from his 800-meter semifinal race when he tripped and caused Botswana's Nijel Amos to fall, and the athletes helped each other up and jogged across the finish line together.
Biden told him that that moment had a "profound impact around the world" and thanked him for that display of sportsmanship.
"America, when it leads the world, leads not by the example of our power, but by the power of our example," Biden told Jewett. "That's the God's truth. And you are an epitome of that. And we thank you for that."
One of the biggest names to compete in the 2020 Games, Simone Biles, was given a few minutes to speak about her decision to remove herself from most of her eventsto focus on her mental health, saying it "will probably be one of my greatest accomplishments."
"If you would have asked me in my younger years, I would have probably been too stubborn, but at that point I knew that I just had to take a step back, let the other girls go up and do their job, and I'm very proud of the way they handled everything, especially last minute with me having to step back," she said.
She said mental health being discussed more in sports is a positive because they are "humans before athletes."
The president praised Biles for the choice she made, calling her "one of the greatest athletes in the world."
"You had the courage to say, 'I need some help. I need some help, I need some time.' And you gave an example to everybody," he said. "And guess what, you got back up on that damn beam."
Biden said he always considered himself to be a "very good athlete," having competed in baseball and football when he was younger, but admitted that the beam "is the thing that frightens me the most."
"Doing a flip on a 4-inch beam is my idea of going to purgatory," he said jokingly. "I'd try most anything else before I try that."
Among the other Olympians on the call were swimmer Lydia Jacoby,the 17-year-old from Alaska who won goldin the 100-meter breaststroke; gymnast Jade Carey, who won gold in the floor exercise; swimmer Zach Apple, who won golds in the 4-x-100 freestyle relay and 4-x-100 medley relay; and gymnast Jordan Chiles, who won silver in the team all-around.
The U.S. is set to lead the overall medal count for the seventh straight Olympics.
