KEWASKUM, Wis. — Washington County officially celebrated "Jordan Stolz Day" to honor the Olympic gold medalist speed skater from Kewaskum with a declaration, a parade, and a Q&A session.
During the parade through the heart of Kewaskum, Stolz spent hours walking the route to connect with the community.
"They put the effort in to show up for me, so I thought I would meet as many of them as I could, shake as many hands and sign as many autographs as I could," Stolz said. "I think I did a fair amount of that."
Watch: Kewaskum celebrates Olympic gold medalist speed skater with Jordan Stolz Day
Community members lined the streets to show their support for the hometown athlete.
"You don’t hear about small town America that much, you know?" Alexandra Broeske said. "It’s really great to have someone from the area."
"He’s a fantastic influence on the community, the state and I just can’t support him enough," Beverly Hirschmann said.
"More people know Kewaskum as a place!" Duncan Gitter said.
The celebration wrapped up with an hour-long question-and-answer session with local children eager to talk with the Olympian. Stolz said he hopes the day inspires others to follow their dreams and helps grow his sport.
"Speed skating could use some growth," he said. "It’s a great sport… think it would be great if more kids got down to the Pettit, started skating, of course, they have questions, and it’s all important, so I try and answer all of them."
Looking ahead, Stolz hopes to return from the next Olympics with more hardware and perhaps another parade, regardless of how long the celebration takes.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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