Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY Sports

In October 2009, the US Speedskating team lost a major sponsor, leaving them looking for money — and quickly. It left them in a bad situation, with a sudden loss of $300,000 and an Olympics only months away. “Our budget would have had to been cut in a number of key areas,” says U.S. Speedskating CEO Bob Crowley told NPR in 2010.

Somehow the speedskaters’ plight made it to the attention of Stephen Colbert, who in the perfect way that he made most of his points, took up the cause wholeheartedly and sponsored the team — and in the way that he did best, made people who would never care about speedskating care. And then, a world wider than the niche sport began to pay attention.

In the end, Colbert appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, sent a group of talented athletes to the Olympics and did it all by making it one of the funniest jokes of the Games.

So in honor of the last ‘Colbert Report’ Thursday night, the US Olympic Committee tweeted out the best thanks they could: A photo of Colbert, as his best, in a speedskating suit.

[sigallery id=”0b4ee1c2853d0939c2656875faf11e2d” title=”Olympics FTW!” type=’sigallery’]