Supporting the ideals and values of the Olympic movement.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 395) supporting the ideals and values of the Olympic movement.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution, and yield myself such time as I may consume.

I would first like to commend our distinguished colleague, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn), for introducing this important resolution.

The Olympics are, first and foremost, about sports, athletes from around the world uniting in their love of their games and their commitment to free and fair competition.

But the Olympics are also an important global forum where athletes, trainers and leaders and spectators from around the world come together to participate in and observe the greatest competition on Earth. The games epitomize the spirit of global harmony and cooperation among nations.

For over 100 years, the modern Olympics movement, in sponsoring the games, has built understanding by bringing athletes together around the world in open competition and by forging new bonds of friendship, solidarity and sportsmanship.

Given the current state of global affairs, we all have learned a lot from the Olympic participants and from the symbolism of the peaceful assemblage of people from all different walks of life.

It is with this harmonious sentiment that Mr. Lamborn's resolution recognizes the significance of the Olympic movement in global understanding.

This resolution is particularly timely as we approach the 2008 games in Beijing, China, and encourages China to act responsibly in accordance with the spirit of this Olympics.

This bill also recognizes the proud history of our own U.S. Olympic Committee, which has coordinated the development of young athletes in the United States and sent so many of them to represent our country with amazing poise.

I'm delighted that the House will today take this opportunity to recognize the anniversary of the founding of the modern Olympic movement on June 23.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to commend the gentleman for his statement, and to honor the spirit of the Olympic movement, and especially that the great State of Colorado hosts the resources and the facilities that allow our athletes from all over the country to come and to train and to prepare adequately for this important global event.

And I cannot help but to reflect on some of the history and how important are some of the events that were classical as far as the Olympics were concerned. And I want to share with my colleagues one of the great personalities that have come out of this, a gentleman by the name of Jim Thorpe, who was a descendent, who was a Sauk and Fox Indian, American Indian, a descendant of a great warrior chief and athlete himself, Black Hawk, Jim Thorpe. It is very interesting in the annals of the Olympic games. In 1912, when he won the Olympics, several gold medals in the Olympics there, and he was approached by the King Gustav of Belgium, and he said, Sir, this is what the king said to Mr. Thorpe. Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world. And Thorpe, never a man to stand on ceremony, answered and simply said, Thanks, King.

Jim Thorpe was one of the greatest athletes in the world. He played baseball, he played football, in fact, in 1950 he was named the greatest American football player. And then another accolade that was given to this great athlete, Olympic athlete, the greatest overall male, at least by the Associated Press in 1950.

Jim Thorpe, unfortunately, was suspended in terms of the medals that he won during the Olympics supposedly because he had played professional baseball. Supposedly, this is what he was accused of.

Well, later on his medals were restored.

But given the fact that this is one of the great personalities that have evolved from the spirit of the Olympic movement, another gentleman that I want to share with my colleagues historically was a gentleman by the name of Jesse Owens, a son of Alabama, but raised in the State of Ohio, in Cleveland, Ohio, specifically.

It was in the 1936 Olympics, 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany, and there was this problem that some of our friends from Germany, particularly Adolph Hitler, had this very interesting concept about the supremacy of the white Aryan race. And this African American athlete went there and won four gold medals, to the extent that it was very ironic.

Here, Jesse Owens could not even train together with his white counterparts, the members of the Olympic Committee, representing the United States of America. And yet, when he got to Germany, in the midst of 110,000 spectators in that stadium there in Berlin, ironically Owens was allowed to travel and stay in the same hotels as whites in Germany, and yet was denied the same privilege here in our own country.

The fact is even noted that after a New York ticker tape parade that was given in his honor in New York City, that Owens had to ride the freight elevator to attend a reception for him at the Waldorf Astoria.

I think it's worth noting that this gentleman, humble as he was, one of the greatest athletes, one of the greatest athletes coming from our country, again the spirit of the Olympics, where race, color, creed or religion should have no barrier, and yet this great American set a tremendous example of what he did in 1936.

Unfortunately, as well, in 1968, at the height of the civil rights movement, the Olympics that took place in Mexico, where gentlemen by the name of Tommy Smith and John Carlos demonstrated in their own way, of course they were highly ridiculed by the media; and it was their way of showing that something was wrong here in America. African Americans were not given the same civil rights and liberties as all other Federal Americans, as is guaranteed supposedly by the U.S. Constitution.

They made a display of their concern that in America, that something was wrong in our country. And I think they were later honored by the San Jose State University for the fact that they stood up for principle, not because they hated the Olympics or being athletes, but because of that.

Then the Olympics of 1980, we had a very serious problem when the Soviet Union attacked Afghanistan. And President Carter then issued a very interesting statement. You pull out of Afghanistan or we're going to boycott the Olympics. That's exactly what happened in 1980. And unfortunately, all our athletes who trained so hard for that 4-year period just wasted that whole energy and time unfortunately. But because of political reasons.

And here's one of the ironies, Mr. Speaker, that the United States was joined in this boycott with Japan, West Germany, China and Canada. And guess who didn't join us? Great Britain, France, Greece. Very, very interesting host of supposedly our allies and friends as a matter of principle in terms of what the Soviet Union did in 1979.

And then what happened in 1984? The Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact members turned around and boycotted the Olympics in Los Angeles.

In the 1988 Olympics in Korea, Mr. Speaker, it was my privilege to lead the first delegation of my territory, as members of the Olympic Committee, believe it or not, in the Olympic organization, in Seoul, Korea. And what an awesome and powerful force it was to show the world community in terms of showing these athletes who prepare for so long and so hard that they could share not only their talent but, more than that, their fellowship with each other.

Now, in the advent of what is happening seriously in terms of what we are trying to do in Darfur, the moment now among some of the leaders and others in the world is to boycott the Olympics in China because some feel that China is not doing enough to put pressure on the Sudanese Government to stop the genocide, to stop the genocide in Darfur, where over 400,000 lives have already been lost because of that terrible crisis of genocide, and over 2 million refugees have already been sighted because of this terrible incident's happening, and the fact that China receives 70 percent of its oil supply from Sudan and the fact that China also supplies arms to the Sudanese Government.

It is a very serious issue. And, unfortunately, like I said, I wish we lived in a perfect world where we can separate the politics from athletics, but this is not the reality that we are faced with.

And I am also making an urgent plea to our good friends from China, the leaders of China, to put pressure on the Sudanese Government, put pressure on the Sudanese Government to stop the genocide in Darfur.

Again, I want to commend my colleague and good friend for his support and for the sponsorship of this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of House Resolution 395. I am pleased to sponsor this resolution that supports and commemorates the ideals and values of the Olympics.

In a few weeks, on June 23, 2007, the United States Olympic Committee will be celebrating the anniversary of the founding of the modern Olympic movement.

Specifically, June 23 represents the date in 1896 on which the Congress of Paris approved the proposal of Baron Pierre de Coubertin to found the modern Olympic games.

The Olympics emphasize the values and ideals of, among other things, an active, healthy lifestyle for both able-bodied and disabled athletes, personal excellence, good sportsmanship and fair play, without regard for gender, race or age.

The Olympic movement and its message of peace and solidarity offer hope during times of tumultuous world events.

For over 100 years the Olympic movement has built a more peaceful and better world by educating young people through athletics, by bringing together athletes from many countries in friendly competition, and by forging new relationships bound by friendship, solidarity, sportsmanship and fair play.

Presently, thousands of men and women throughout the United States are working hard to prepare for competition to proudly represent our great Nation. Embodying values of health and fitness, Olympic athletes are role models for young people as obesity becomes far too widespread in the United States.

These athletes will be participating in one of the upcoming Olympic games: the XV Pan American Games, which will take place in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, later this year; the XXVIV Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, in 2008; and the XXI Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, in 2010.

As China prepares to open its doors to the world, the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing could well be a defining event for our generation.

The Olympic movement's ideals and values are as relevant today, if not more so, than when the modern Olympic games began more than 100 years ago.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I want to thank my colleague from American Samoa for the words he has just shared and especially for the inspiring example that he recounted to us of Jim Thorpe and Jesse Owens.

An Olympic athlete has the potential to galvanize the attention of the entire country, sometimes the entire world, through overcoming adversity through athletic excellence, and I expect that we will be seeing a lot more of that in the future. And that is the kind of inspiration that we as Americans and our young people can benefit from.

I am proud that in Colorado Springs we have the headquarters of the United States Olympic Committee and we have a very involved training center in Colorado Springs, in my district. We also have training centers in other parts of the country. I am aware of training centers in California, New York, and Michigan as well. So the Olympics movement is something that we as a Nation can be proud of and can support, and I would hope that this resolution makes a big step in that direction.

I want to thank my colleague across the aisle for helping me on this resolution, for the words that he shared.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.