I HAD TO GIVE MY WRAP-UP
August 13, 2024
You know how it is when you experience something out of the ordinary and you just want to hold on to the feeling. That’s how I feel about the Olympics. Yes, there were parts that I didn’t go along with in terms of what goes for entertainment and there is a lingering controversy about whether Jordan Chiles gets to keep her medal. I feel for all those who didn’t get a medal or missed it by 1/100th of a second. However, there is so much to learn from these athletes and their focused efforts to give their best performance and represent their country.
I had another blog post in mind, but it can wait. I just wasn’t ready to let go of this Olympic feeling!
I will start with a story from my daughter, Rebecca, who tells of her own Olympics at age 14.
“Every summer I had a family with two children that I took care of for the whole summer in our wonderful neighborhood. That summer I was praying about something special to do for the summer and I had a book of ideas for activities to do with children. One of them was to have a neighborhood mock Olympics. So, I thought there are lots of neighborhood kids that these kids enjoy playing with. I read the ideas in the book, and we had different categories of competition. One of the ideas was to make homemade medals. The day before we sat at the dining room table and cut out cardboard circles and covered them with foil to make them shiny like an Olympic medal. We stapled a ribbon to the circle, and you had an award. I also had gotten several trophies for awards at school. I thought—"I don’t need these trophies. These kids would love them for the overall winners.” So we had the competition in their backyard. We invited about 6 or 7 neighborhood kids, and we had track and field. We had a relay. We had a slip and slide for water competition. I don’t remember the other activities, but it was a day-long event. At the end of the day, I called out the names and gave the kids their trophies and medals. They had a great time!”
Maybe we need to plan our own Olympics effort! What about the LA Marathon in four years as our target date? We could ask Rebecca to make some medals to mark milestones along the way! I remind myself of my pastor’s sermon from last week from the words of James. He says when planning we ought to say, “if it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” That’s the kind of humility that God asks us to have when planning.
The women’s soccer team won their first gold medal in 12 years in their final effort against Brazil. Mallory Swanson missed the World Cup last year because of a knee injury and subsequent infection. She didn’t join the national team until this spring. She was the one who got the only goal. Also, this was with a new coach, Emma Hayes, with a short training period with the team. When interviewed, she spoke of their “heart, determination, and grit.” She and the players spoke of the fun they had together.
Masai Russell won gold in the 100-meter hurdles. Running plus hurdles at top speed—I can’t imagine! She said she wrote at the first of the year her goals for the year. She said this was the most coveted one and she won it by one hundredth of a second.
Katie Ledecky became the most decorated female US Olympian of all time. She won four medals—two gold, one silver and one bronze. I loved her humble spirit.
Simone Biles is now known as the greatest gymnast of all time. She won three Olympic gold medals as well as a silver medal. We all know the story of how she pulled out of several events at the Tokyo Olympics and took time away to focus on her mental health. What an example!
Leon Marchand, age 22, gave France a hero when he won five medals, four of them gold. He became the first athlete in decades to win two individual swimming gold medals — the 200m breaststroke and 200m butterfly — on the same night, both in Olympic-record times. His coach was the same one who coached Michael Phelps. He was chosen to carry the flame to the final ceremony, and he was the one who extinguished it.
The creativity that was exhibited was amazing and I was intrigued with the suspended piano and pianist at the closing ceremony, playing a beautiful song as though he was sitting in his living room.
We heard inspiring stories and sayings. Here is one to remember:
“Every step forward takes you where you want to be.”
As a runner, I memorized the verses from the book of Hebrews to inspire myself. The verses are meant to apply to our life of faith and can fit in here when we think of the inspiration of these athletes.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the face marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”
