London 2012: Obama congratulates Cameron on success

Washington: US President Barack Obama has congratulated British Prime Minister David Cameron for hosting an “extremely successful” Olympic games in London.

“President Obama called Prime Minister Cameron today to congratulate him and the people of the United Kingdom and London on an extremely successful Olympic games, which speaks to the character and spirit of our close ally,” the White House said in a statement as the Games came to a close.

“Both leaders commended the exceptional performances by both the Olympic teams of the United States and Great Britain and noted how proud we all are of them,” the statement said.

Obama thanked Cameron for hosting so many US athletes and fans and for the extremely warm welcome shown to First Lady Michelle Obama, it said. Earlier as a campaign event, Obama congratulated American athletes for successfully winning so many gold medals at the London Olympics.

“We just had the Olympics Closing Ceremony. We could not be prouder of our US athletes bringing home the gold, conducting themselves as we would hope that somebody would conduct themselves representing the United States. They just did an outstanding job,” Obama said in Chicago.

Noting that he’s heard from supporters about their enthusiasm for the Olympics, Obama said: “This is not going to be a race like Usain Bolt where we’re like 40 yards ahead and we can just kind of start jogging 10 feet before the finish line. We’re going to have to run through the tape. But we’re really well positioned to not just win but to keep America moving forward.”

PTI