WASHINGTON — President Biden honored former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Olympic champion swimmer Katie Ledecky and former Vice President Al Gore with the Presidential Medal of Freedom Friday, along with 16 other American luminaries.

The 81-year-old president touted Bloomberg, 82, for his professional feats while applauding Gore, 76, for accepting his Electoral College defeat in the 2000 presidential race, a clear shot at former President Donald Trump.

“That to me was amazing what you did,” Biden said — despite the fact that Gore also challenged the result all the way to the Supreme Court.

Biden appeared to stumble on his script as he hailed Ledecky, who has won seven Olympic gold medals, for her plans to “compete this summer at the Paralympics at age 27,” melding the words “Paris” and “Olympics.”

The president also mistakenly referred to Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh by the first name “Michael” before quickly correcting himself.

“I’ll tell you what, it makes you proud to be an American, doesn’t it?” Biden said of his guests in the White House East Room — after at one point saying his staff “hates” his “ad-libbing” of speeches.

Presidents typically use the award, America’s highest civilian honor, to more closely associate themselves with the recipients.

In addition to his business and mayoral career, Bloomberg spent more than $1 billion on his own run for the 2020 Democratic nomination against Biden, ultimately carrying just American Samoa, and was a top donor in 2022 as congressional Democrats defied expectations of a Republican landslide.

“Mayor Michael Bloomberg is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and three-term mayor. He revolutionized the financial information industry and transformed New York City’s education, environment, public health, and the arts,” the White House said in announcing the award.

Fellow ex-presidential candidates Gore, John Kerry, and Elizabeth Dole also were honored.

Bloomberg made his fortune with financial technology and served as New York City mayor from 2002-2013, initially as a Republican and then as an independent.

Kerry was the Democratic Party’s unsuccessful presidential nominee in 2004, while Dole sought the Republican nomination in 2000.

Kerry’s citation notes his Vietnam War service and “his public service career that has spanned seven decades,” including as a senator from Massachusetts and most recently as Biden’s anti-global warming coordinator.

Dole was lauded for her foundation that supports military families and career as a “trailblazing” senator and Cabinet secretary.

The unusual gathering of former White House aspirants came as Biden’s own political future is imperiled with polling showing him trailing Trump, despite the ex-president’s four criminal prosecutions, including the ongoing hush money trial in New York.

The remaining honorees included Father Greg Boyle, a Los Angeles Jesuit priest and anti-gang activist; Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), whose endorsement of Biden in 2020 helped rescue the president’s stagnant campaign; longtime talk show host Phil Donahue; civil rights activist Clarence B. Jones; educator and activist Opal Lee; astronaut Ellen Ochoa; former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.); astronomer Jane Rigby; United Farm Workers union president Teresa Romero; and Matthew Shepard Foundation co-founder Judy Shepard.

Three honorees received the medal posthumously: civil rights activist Medgar Evers, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and athlete Jim Thorpe.