In 1963, President Kennedy taped a message supporting Detroit’s bid to host the Olympics, which ultimately went to Mexico City. (To this day, Detroit is the only city to make an Olympic bid seven times and never get it.) Although that was the only time Kennedy got involved in the Olympics, he often stressed the importance of physical fitness. “We do not want our children to become a generation of spectators,” he once said. But the biggest athletic champion in his family was his sister Eunice, who founded the Special Olympics in 1968.
A Brief History of U.S. Presidents and the Olympics
Mitt Romney is not the only politician with an Olympic past. From Teddy Roosevelt to Barack Obama, the biennial games have been a fixture in politics. As the 2012 Summer Olympics kick off in London, TIME looks back at how America's Presidents have handled the world's premier sporting event.
