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Rio 2016: President Obama, Michelle Obama wish Team USA good luck (Video)

By Jason Parker

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 14: U.S. President Barack Obama (L) and first lady Michelle Obama welcome members of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams to the White House September 14, 2012 in Washington, DC. The U.S. team brought home 104 medals, 46 of them gold medals, from the games in London. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 14: U.S. President Barack Obama (L) and first lady Michelle Obama welcome members of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams to the White House September 14, 2012 in Washington, DC. The U.S. team brought home 104 medals, 46 of them gold medals, from the games in London. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) /
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Ahead of Friday’s opening ceremonies for the Rio Olympics, President Obama and First Lady Michelle had a special message for Team USA athletes.

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Friday evening, athletes from across the world will be center stage in Rio as the 2016 Summer Olympics will officially began with the Opening Ceremonies (this despite two days of actually activity already having been played, include the USA Women’s Soccer team getting their first win of the games).

Leading the USA’s group of delegates will not be President Obama or Vice President Biden, but instead will be led by Secretary of State John Kerry. Obama, along with First Lady Michelle, still took time to send out a special message to the group of athletes representing America on The White House’s official Twitter page:

"“Bring home the gold for the Red, White, and Blue” —@POTUS wishing @TeamUSA luck ahead of the #OpeningCeremony https://t.co/NoPgF3p10T— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 5, 2016"

While it is true that the men’s basketball team isn’t as strong as they could have been or were in past years without LeBron James and Steph Curry on the team, I’m still pretty sure they will be okay and not need the services of a 55-year-old man at the wing – even though it’s no secret that President Obama can ball.

The 2016 Rio Olympics gets underway officially Friday night and will conclude with the closing ceremonies on Sunday, August 21. You can catch all the action from Team USA athletes and the rest of the world on the NBC Universal family of networks, with the opening ceremonies starting at 7:30 p.m. EST on NBC.

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