Filipina weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz proudly displays her Olympics gold medal and the Miraculous Medal, a devotional medallion depicting the Virgin Mary. / Hidilyn Diaz’s Instagram Stories
Washington D.C., Aug 10, 2021 / 12:01 pm (CNA).
The games of the 32nd Olympiad closed on Sunday, bringing an end to more than two weeks of competitions featuring the world’s most talented athletes with a global audience.
Some competitors, however, made it clear that they were playing not only for national pride and a piece of hardware, but also for a greater purpose.
Here are some moments where athletes shared their faith on the world’s stage:
A Miraculous Medal for a miraculous victory
On the third day of the games, Filipina weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz won the first-ever Olympic gold medal for her country. Diaz, who competed in the women’s 55kg event, set an Olympic record with her clean and jerk of 127kg and a combined weight of 224kg. Her gold medal improved on her second-place finish at the 2016 games in Rio.
Images of Diaz’s visibly emotional face on her final lift went viral, and after she successfully completed the lift, she repeatedly said “Thank you, Lord” and clutched her Miraculous Medal necklace.
After the Philippine national anthem was played at the medal ceremony, Diaz stepped down from the podium, made the Sign of the Cross, and shouted “Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!” (“Long live the Philippines!”)
Glorifying God in the pool
South African swimmer Tatjana Schoenmaker left Tokyo with a gold medal in the 200-meter breaststroke and a surprise silver in the 100-meter breaststroke. Schoenmaker swam with a pair of cross-shaped earrings, and underneath her official Team South Africa-issued swim cap, Schoenmaker donned a white swim cap with the words “Soli Deo Gloria” (“Glory to God Alone”) written on it.
That swim cap was on display during the qualifying rounds in the 100-meter breaststroke, as her country’s cap nearly fell off her head in both races.
Sydney McLaughlin and Team USA run to glorify God
Sydney McLaughlin wrote on her Instagram following her first gold medal win that she prayed “my journey may be a clear depiction of submission and obedience to God.”
“I have never seen God fail in my life. In anyone’s life for that matter. Just because I may not win every race, or receive every one of my heart’s desires, does not mean God had failed. His will is PERFECT,” she said.
After winning her second gold medal – on her 22nd birthday – McLaughlin thanked God for another year of life, and wrote that she looks “forward to unveiling where it takes me as you continue to establish my steps.”
McLaughlin’s teammates are vocal about their faiths as well. Athing Mu, a 19-year-old breakout star of the games, posted that her year had been one of faith and perseverance.
“In the end, I chose to grasp onto God and allow Him to take complete control of my life. It allowed me to take a step back, learn how to trust Him entirely and HAVE FAITH,” she said.
Marileidy Paulino wears her faith on her feet
Marileidy Paulino, the Dominican Republic track star, is leaving Tokyo with two silver medals: one in the mixed 4×400 relay, and another in the 400. She’s the first woman ever from the Dominican Republic to win an Olympic medal.
After her second-place finish in the 400, Paulino told the Associated Press that she considered her medal a “miracle,” as she had only been running that distance for one year.
On her spikes, Paulino wrote “Dios es mi esperanza,” Spanish for “God is my hope.”
Wrestler goes viral for praising the Lord and her country
Female wrestlers are not household names in the United States, but Tamyra Mensah-Stock’s interview after winning gold in the Women’s 68kg freestyle competition went viral.
“It’s by the grace of God I’m able to move my feet. I just leave it in His hands,” she said, adding that she prayed that all of her hard work would be worth it.
“And every single time it does, and I get better and better,” she said. “I’m excited to see what I have next.”
Jesus makes all things new
Nicola McDermott of Australia took the silver medal in women’s high jump competition, jumping a personal best 2.02 meters in the final. During each competition, McDermott not only wrote in her journal, but also wrote a devotional passage on her wrist.
For the final, McDermott wrote “JESUS makes all things new,” with a cross drawn underneath. She told Australian media following her medal win that when she was a teenager, she was “always an outcast” before joining a church.
“I got welcomed into a faith community that loved me. I remember encountering God’s love and it changed the way that I thought of myself as a misfit,” she said.
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Yet another nutty nun and a homosexual-sympathizing pope. Christ could not be amused despite the carnival backdrop.
Today Holy Father you are alluding on X to what would happen if we prayed more and complained less.
If I pray and Jesus tells me to bring something to the direct attention of the Holy Father that crosses him, would you be able to tell the difference between that and a complaint? Perhaps Holy Father you will say it is only a knot and the BVM already loosed out all the knots for you because you declared she needn’t be Redemptrix and you are the Holy Father?
So I find this in my prayer. I believe it is for you. If it is not for you, well, you can make up your own mind. When did Jesus ever use mercy to distort justice?
You are telling these people you are with them in spirit while telling us to legalize their propensity to do and to want evil and its legalization? And that THAT is the Christian proclamation of respect and love due to the Incarnate Word?
But something further is in the vision from the prayer. By all appearance, you never rebuke James Martin for his implicit complaining -nor any of his ilk for that matter. But now you express a heartfelt plea for us to strive in prayer ….. to be less in complaining? Even in the parable the unjust judge was ashamed of the widow.
https://x.com/Pontifex/status/1819334832780202057
All you say is sad but true.
Bishop Strickland is able to carry it over positively without any element of sadness. See in the LIFESITE link, Strickland’s discussion about not pulling up the darnel but remaining as good wheat -with Terry Barber, Virgin MP Radio.
Somehow today CNA coincidentally publishes another viewpoint on the same X post. They portray that the aim of the post is to pray to get around all the gossiping, more than it is about not belly-aching moaners and groaners. But actually my prayer addresses both and anything else anyone wishes to try to overlay.
That’s the point I try to convey faithfully to the Holy Father. He is seeing things only in contexts he has predefined and projects. As if his preferred groups are not gossips and won’t worsen the problem and the personal penchants, you see. He himself complains about rigidity and narrowness (“closed-up”) but he is leading a unidirectional apostolate with very zoned thinking, not the Cross.
Jesus gave that parable precisely for us to be complaining when we know we must.
Brings me back to Strickland. He reminds how St. Paul says be prepared to give the account of the reason for our HOPE. Not sheep wallowing in joy.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/episodes/bishop-strickland-dont-listen-to-church-leaders-who-want-to-reshape-gods-commandments/?utm_source=most_recent&utm_campaign=usa
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/258503/pope-francis-what-would-happen-if-we-prayed-more-and-complained-less