“I thought he was an extremely kind person,” said Blunk, 27, of Gig Harbor, Washington, part of the USA wheelchair basketball team that won gold in the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro earlier this month. “He was very, very sincere. It was awesome.”

Obama skipped the summer games in Brazil, choosing to go on vacation instead, but he got a chance to meet the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams when he honored their performances during a White House ceremony.

“It’s a beautiful place,” said Blunk, a graduate of Peninsula High School.

Obama applauded the teams for winning 46 gold medals.

“We admire your athleticism, but we also admire your character and your stick-to-it-ness,” the president said. “We know you don’t do this for the money or the fame.”

And Obama gave a special salute to U.S. women, saying they’d won 61 medals, the most in history.

“2016 belonged to America’s women Olympians,” he said.

Team members presented Obama with two surfboards with their signatures on them.

“These are great gifts, and I’m going to have a lot of time to surf next year,” the president said.