Polina Edmunds Among Olympians, Paralympians Honored At White House

Two months after Sochi, and two weeks after Japan, Polina Edmunds is now in Washington, D.C.

In a tweet Thursday morning, the 15-year-old San Jose Olympic skater said that she and fellow figure skater Jason Brown, 19,  of Chicago are "off to the White House." Brown told the Today Show on Wednesday that he is so excited, he doesn't "know how I'm going to handle it."

The teenage skating sensations are there as part of a celebration hosted by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama to to thank the Winter Olympics and Paralympics teams "on their performance... for representing the United States during the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia," according to the White House. About 200 athletes came to the event.

Obama adressed the Olympians Thursday afternoon, rooting on "Team USA" for bringing home 46 medals for the "red white and blue." He credited all the athletes, giving some special mentions to the hockey players, slopestylers and the American women who won more medals than the women from any other country.

Lots of notable athletes were at the prestigious "Best of the U.S." gathering before the official White House event as well, including Fremont Olympian Michelle Kwan and Evan Lysacek, who skated in the 2010 Olympics, but was injured for Sochi.  

Bobsledder Nick Cunningham, who was born in Los Gatos and lives in Monterey, also tweeted on Wednesday that he was on his way to D.C. "to meet the president and first lady." On Thursday, he tweeted, "Oh you know..Just at the White House."

Polina came in 9th at the Olympics. And before the White House thanked her, the city of San Jose also honored the Archbishop Mitty High School sophomore for her "outstanding work" representing her hometown as well as her country.

In March, she competed in Japan at the 2014 World Olympics, where she came in eighth. Americans Gracie Gold and Ashley Wagner came in fifth and seventh. Japan's Mao Asada came in first place.

And after a whirlwind few months, Polina tweeted that Japan was her last competition of the season.

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