Learning from the Olympics and Paralympics

We celebrate the start of the Paris Olympics and Paralympics with an article by Parenting for Faith’s Becky Sedgwick.

28 July 2024

This summer we’re in for a treat – the Paris Olympics and Paralympics will be blazoned across our screens and all over our social media; 14,900 athletes from 206 countries will be competing in 54 sports over the thirty days of competition, as well as enjoying spectacular opening and closing ceremonies in the Olympic stadium.

Sport is a wonderful gift God has given us. Christians in Sport explain it like this:

‘It may be a surprise to you, but sport is part of God’s good gift of creation. Sure, human beings are the ones who invent sports, but where does our playfulness come from? The creativity, the desire for human relationship, and the instinctive desire to play that all people, of all ages, across all cultures have, are all part of what it means to be made in the image of God.’

God created laughter and fun, and he loves to see his people using their passions and skills well, enjoying themselves and bringing joy to others. In the film Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell, a gold medallist in the Paris Olympics 100 years ago, said this: ‘God made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure.’

God-given talents

At the Olympics and Paralympics we will see the most breathtaking array of talents, from incredible artistry in the gymnastics, to sheer power in the weightlifting, and great feats of endurance in the triathlon. As Christians, we believe that God has given each of us gifts and talents. We all have different talents and God-given gifts, but they are all important and can be used for God’s kingdom. Paul urges us to use our gifts to serve others and help bring about God’s kingdom.

In 1 Corinthians 12, he compares the individuals in the body of Christ to different parts of the body. Even though each part serves a different purpose and has a different function, all are important in the whole and are needed for the body to function properly. It is the same with our talents; they are all different but each one serves a purpose.

Many Christian Olympians and Paralympians have talked about the talents God has given them.

Allyson Felix, an American track-and-field athlete who has won seven Olympic gold medals, said: ‘For me, my faith is the reason I run. I definitely feel I have this amazing gift that God has blessed me with, and it’s all about using it to the best of my ability.’

Fanie van der Merwe, a South African Paralympian, talks about how God has taken his sporting talents and used them to be able to mentor and inspire young disabled athletes: ‘If you look at my journey, it’s undeniable that God opened doors for me to come into sport for people with disabilities.’

Ugandan runner Joseph Cheptegei uses his fame to speak out against female genital mutilation.

And British rower Debbie Flood believes ‘God has put me in rowing to be a witness for him. There are not very many Christians in rowing.’

God’s in it with us

I imagine that sitting on the start line of an Olympic rowing final or standing on a 10m platform waiting to dive might feel like a lonely place.

Olympian Samantha Schultz, an American modern pentathlete, described the loneliness she sometimes felt as she prepared for the Olympics: ‘The lone workouts and trying to push myself left me feeling empty and isolated even with family, friends, and even my husband supporting me.’ Despite the excitement and even the glory of being an Olympian, it can be, as she says, tough and lonely.

Christian Olympians have described the difference God makes. US Paralympian Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone said: ‘I think now I can show up to the track every day and understand that this is a gift he’s given me that, win, lose or draw, it’s an opportunity to glorify him, and my value is already secure in Christ.’

It can be difficult when you fail in sport, especially if you have trained incredibly hard and feel you have now let everyone down.

Scottish swimmer Kirsty Balfour, a medal prospect at the 2008 Olympics, performed poorly in the heats and did not make the semi-finals. Despite her desolation, she felt God close to her. ‘I felt I was standing on the rock of Jesus,’ she said. ‘I was able to say: Yes, Jesus you are in it. You are here. This was your will. I had such assurance that God still loved me.’

Keep your eye on the prize

Winning an Olympic gold is the ultimate sporting prize for any athlete! 36,600 gold, silver and bronze medals will be won this summer.

Olympians often talk about how the prospect of winning a medal helps them stay focussed during long and gruelling training sessions; it’s what keeps them going as they manage injuries and sacrifice time with family and friends as they pursue their prize.

Kerri Strug, an American Olympic gymnast, badly injured her ankle during her first vault in the 1996 team final. But her vault was needed if the Americans were to beat the Russians for gold. Despite the pain, Kerri performed a near perfect second vault to win the team gold. Afterwards she said: ‘This is the Olympics. This is what you dream about from when you’re 5 years old. I wasn’t going to stop.’

Paul wrote in Philippians 3:13-14: ‘Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.’

Eric Liddell said something similar, after he gave up sport a few years after the first Paris Olympics to become a missionary to China. ‘It has been a wonderful experience to compete in the Olympic Games and to bring home a gold medal… But since I have been a young lad, I have had my eyes on a different prize. You see, each one of us is in a greater race than any I have run in Paris, and this race ends when God gives out the medals.’

Eighty years later, Debbie Flood, Team GB rower in 2004 and 2008, said something similar: ‘Jesus is more important than a gold medal, because a gold medal is temporary. Gold medals will be forgotten about, and I won’t be taking [my medal] with me when I pass away.’

A bigger picture

There are three Olympic values – respect, excellence and friendship – and four Paralympic values – determination, inspiration, courage and equality.

Elite sportspeople dedicate extraordinary amounts of time and effort to succeeding in their sport – and the pressure to win can be huge. But many Olympians have demonstrated that there’s a bigger picture: that however important sport and winning is, there are more important things.

Lawrence Lemieux was a Canadian sailor who abandoned his chance of winning gold in the single-handed Finn sailing class at the 1988 Seoul Olympics to go and rescue fellow competitors who had capsized.

At the 1936 Olympics, Jesse Owens won the gold medal for the long jump – but only because his main rival, German Luz Long, advised him how to change his run up. The two became firm friends. Remembering that it was Luz who was the first to congratulate him on his victory, Owens said this: ‘It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me. You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn’t be a plating on the 24-carat friendship I felt for Luz Long at that moment.’

One great big family

The famous Olympic rings signify that the Olympics are a worldwide movement: each ring represents one of the five inhabited continents. At the Paris Olympics and Paralympics there will be athletes from 206 different countries, and even a Refugee team, made up of 36 athletes from 11 different countries: a truly global Olympic family.

Sometimes friendship has been more important than winning: high jumpers Matuz Barshim, from Qatar, and Italian Gianmarco Tamberi had been friends since 2017, so when they tied for first place in the Toyko Olympics in 2021, they preferred to share the gold rather than compete further.

At the 1936 Olympics, Japanese friends Shuhei Nishida and Sueo Oe were both competing in the pole vault, and tied for second place. Choosing to share the honours, they refused to jump again but officials forced them to choose who would get the silver and who would get the bronze. After the Olympics the pair had each medal cut in half and fused together so each of them had a half silver, half bronze medal – which came to be known as the ‘medals of friendship’.