WASHINGTON: Barack Obama may be running for the most powerful job in the world, but an employee of a gym here stopped him as well as his secret service agents as they tried to breeze past the front desk without stopping.
Wanting to get a quick treadmill session before his first public event with Hillary Clinton, the 47-year-old Illinois senator headed to the newly-opened Washington Sports Club in the Columbia Heights neighbourhood.
But the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who hopes to be the first black-American president, did not get far when he and his entourage of agents tried to walk past the front desk without stopping, according to the gym's general manager, Gonzalo Perez-Tamayo.
Perez-Tamayo said the club trains its employees to adopt a strict policy of asking every member for his or her gym ID upon entry, even if they happen to be seeking the Oval Office.
The employee manning the front desk on Friday, Takehia Wheeler, immediately stopped Obama as he rushed inside.
"It's always a rush in the morning, everyone's trying to come in quickly," Perez-Tamayo said. "She asked him for his last name and he said 'Obama,' then she asked him for his first name."
"It was very funny, she then realised who he was and said, 'Oh I am so sorry!" Perez-Tamayo was quoted as saying by CNN.
For the record, Obama is a member at the Washington Sports Club gym network.
The first-time Illinois senator did not appear frustrated by the inconvenience, Perez-Tamayo also said, but he probably realised he needs to get a gym card if he wants to avoid the mix up in the future.
"If he doesn't want to get stopped he needs a card," Perez-Tamayo said. "It's the same for everybody."
