Donald Trump returned to one of his favourite topics – the size of crowds – as he welcomed USA’s Winter Olympians to the White House on Friday.

Team USA finished fourth in the medals table at this year’s Olympics in South Korea, with a haul that included nine golds. “You performed and you made us very proud,” the president told the assembled Olympians. “And many of you came home as champions wearing a bronze, silver, or a gold medal. And you had very big crowds. And I have to say, without certain backing, those crowds were not looking good.

“But all of a sudden, those crowds got very, very big, very powerful, and it became a very, very successful Olympics aside from everything else. They had a lot more people show up than they thought. And you think you know why, right?”

The president also made sure the athletes were up to standard. “Do we have any quitters here?” he asked. “Raise your hand, please. All right, because I was going to say, get the hell out of here. No quitters in this group, huh? I had a feeling. I had a feeling that was true.”

Trump went on to single out individual athletes for praise, taking particular interest in speed skater John-Henry Krueger’s legs. “Let me see the legs,” he told Krueger. “Pretty strong legs, I’ll tell you. I look at those legs when we want to work out. Great job.”

Ivanka Trump travelled to South Korea as part of the US delegation and the president praised his daughter’s contribution after the men’s curling team said she had been in the crowd supporting their gold medal victory.

“It helped, right?” Trump asked team member John Shuster.

“Yeah,” replied Shuster.

“Go ahead. Say that. Go ahead,” said Trump.

“Thanks for helping cheering us on,” said Shuster.

The president also took time out to discuss genetics with gold medal-winning ice hockey player Amanda Kessel, whose brother Phil plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins. “I think your brother is in the NHL, right? Tell me about genes,” said Trump. “Is he a good player? Is he as good as you? I don’t know about that.”

“He’s very good,” said Kessel. “I heard you say that you weren’t sure if I was good as him.

“I wasn’t sure, but now I think you’re better,” said Trump.

Several members of the team including Gus Kenworthy, Adam Rippon, Nathan Chen and Lindsey Vonn had previously said they would not attend the event. Rippon, who is gay, had publicly disagreed with the vice-president, Mike Pence, over his stance on gay rights. However, it is not unusual for athletes to skip White House receptions.

Olympians from the 2018 Games have been invited to go to the White House today. I will not be going. I will not stand with people who discriminate against those that they perceive as different. In lieu of going to DC, I have donated to a few of my favorite causes 🙆🏼‍♂️❤️ https://t.co/qDXqswTHdF — Adam Rippon (@Adaripp) April 27, 2018

Trump also spoke about this week’s talks between North and South Korea. “I’ll be meeting with Kim Jong-un in the coming weeks as we seek to denuclearise the North Korean area and the entire Korean peninsula,” he said. “Hopefully, the day will come when Olympic athletes can compete on a Korean peninsula that is free of nuclear weapons, and where all Koreans can live together and can share their dreams. It would be a wonderful thing to do.”