City Line: Schmetterling's Olympic dream reaches the White House

WASHINGTON - The ceremony in the White House's East Room started a little late Thursday because President Obama and the first lady and Vice President Biden greeted each 2016 Olympian and Paralympian, and there are a lot of Olympians and Paralympians.

"Hi, I'm Joe Biden," Biden said to gold medal-wearing rower Lauren Schmetterling from Moorestown.

Schmetterling couldn't help but say, "I know!"

Accepting each personal congratulation, Schmetterling said she thanked each for what they do for the country.

Rain had moved them all inside from the South Lawn. There was never a script for any of this when Schmetterling began rowing at Moorestown High or even when she went off to Colgate University. Make the national team? Win world championships? Get to Rio in the women's eight? Win gold? Have a day like this?

Schmetterling already had stories she'll tell. In Rio, she had met Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky - and Bubba Watson, among others. They were all on the Today Show the same day. But it wasn't just about the stars. It was about meeting athletes who had worked the same way she had, just for different sports. After Schmetterling competed, she stayed with her family and went to track and field and water polo, volleyball, and gymnastics. (Free tickets were a perk,) She was in the second row at the finish line when Usain Bolt won the 200.

"He just looked like a blur of color," Schmetterling said. "You can't even see a person."

Her race? It sounded like a dream. The United States was the heavy favorite, undefeated for a decade, which guarantees nothing.

"There were some moments in the race when I could just feel the energy of all nine women and the boat pick out of the water and surge forward," Schmetterling said of the nearly 21/2-second win over silver medalist Britain. "An incredible feeling, when all of us are on the exact same page."

Schmetterling joined a very short list of local athletes who won gold in Rio. Since then, she's been feted at Colgate and at the Boston boathouse where she trains. Of the $25,000 she received for winning gold, she said, "this is the most money I've ever had."

Spend any of it already? "No, I have to save that money. I don't even have my own apartment. I stay with a host family. My main source of income is a USOC stipend."

She was surprised to find out post-Olympics that she has to pay taxes on her winnings, Schmetterling said, "Then I believe taxes on the medal itself. There's $600 worth of gold in the medal."

Since the Olympics, Schmetterling said, it's weird to not be on a specific "rigid" schedule, in bed at a certain time, "eating in a very specific way."

Instead of in bed at 8:30, up at 5:30, sleeping until 7 feels as if she's in bed till noon. She'll be back competing in a single in late October at the Head of the Charles, then the national team will get together in January.

At the White House, the president lauded the achievements from Rio, going through the highlights, from Biles and Phelps and Ledecky ("You didn't see it on TV? Like there's nobody else in the pool? Crazy."). He asked everyone to imagine what it was like for a young man or young woman "who looks like them" to see these achievements from "the best at what they do."

All the Olympians weren't there (No Ryan Lochte, to answer the most popular question), but there were so many dressed in official USA gear, medal-winners wearing their medals, that it took almost half an hour for the group to exit the place.

"It was really humbling," Schmetterling, who turned 28 in August, said just outside the White House gate. "I had never been to the White House - we got a little bit of a tour."

On the way out each Olympian was handed a bottle of water and a box lunch, a salad and some Herr's chips, sour cream and onion in Schmetterling's case. She headed toward one of the buses lined up on Pennsylvania Avenue.

"Pretty hungry," she said.

It had started drizzling again. She didn't seem to notice.

mjensen@phillynews.com

@jensenoffcampus