The Top Christian Highlights of the Paris Olympic…

For most spectators, the Olympics are a display of the highest level of athletic skill. But for many Christian athletes, they provide an opportunity to express their faith to each other and to the world. Below are some of the most memorable moments of Christian expression at the Paris Olympics.

This post will be updated throughout the Olympics. If you see a story you want highlighted, feel free to email us at ctglobal@christianitytoday.com.

Queen of the Hurdles Credits God, as Usual

One hundred years ago, Eric Liddell declined to run the 100 meters on a Sunday at the 1924 Paris Olympics, made a last-minute switch to the 400 meters, and won a stunning gold medal. On August 8 of this year, one of the most visible evangelical Christians at the 2024 Paris Olympics delivered an equally stunning performance at the same distance—with 10 hurdles in the way.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who qualified for her first Olympics while still in high school, broke her own world record in the 400-meter hurdles. Her time of 50.37 seconds won gold with 1.5 seconds to spare. Proportionally, that would be like winning a marathon by more than three minutes.

Video of the race shows McLaughlin-Levrone and her chief rival, Femka Bol of the Netherlands, virtually even through six hurdles. But while Bol stutter-stepped and struggled to maintain balance over the last three hurdles—a usual experience for mere mortals in this grueling event—McLaughlin-Levrone ran them in perfect stride, with alternating takeoff legs, as if not even fatigued.

McLaughlin-Levrone has made her Christian testimony widely known through numerous interviews and her book Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith.

“I credit all that I do to God. He’s given me a gift, he’s given me a drive to just want to continue to improve upon myself, and I have a platform and I want to use it to glorify him,” she said at Thursday’s post-race press conference in response to an NPR reporter’s question. “So whenever I step on the track, it’s always the prayer of ‘God, let me be the vessel in which You’re glorified, whatever the result is’—how I conduct myself, how I carry myself, not just how I perform. So it’s just freedom in knowing that regardless of what happens, he’s going to get the praise through me. That’s why I do what I do.”

Rebeca Andrade: Her Godliness and Grace Earn Competitors’ Love

For much of the world, US gymnast Simone Biles has been the most visible face of the Paris Olympics. On August 5, Biles and teammate Jordan Chiles created a memorable Olympic scene when, in a gesture of sportsmanship, they bowed down to Brazilian competitor Rebeca Andrade on the medals podium.

Andrade had just taken the gold medal in the floor exercise competition, with Biles and Chiles earning silver and bronze, respectively.

The two US stars referred to Andrade as a “queen,” “icon,” and “legend” while noting the international friendship they have shared through years of fierce competition.

Andrade, age 25, who has suffered three ACL injuries that required reconstructive surgeries during her career, has not been bashful about directing her thanks to God. She broke into song during an interview after winning silver in the vault competition.

“God was preparing me so that I could achieve my goals today,” she stated. “And the song says, ‘I am preparing you for a new time that is about to come … hold on, I’m doing it perfectly, and you will see.’ And that’s exactly it, you know? He’s doing things that I could never have imagined.”

In an interview two years ago, Andrade credited her Christian upbringing for giving her resilience and said that to deal with anxiety at the Olympics, “I always took the Bible to the competition and read it when I went to the bathroom.”

She also related how God encouraged her after her third surgery in 2019:

I was in the room I shared with a friend, and mentally I was asking for a hug—because I was far from my mother and my siblings. My friend, who is a heavy sleeper, got up without saying a word and gave me a hug. It was at that moment that I realized God was with me and that he had given me that hug. At that moment, I decided, “I’m not going to stop. If I had to go through this again, it’s because he has something bigger.”

If You Know God, You Can Smile Under Pressure

The high jump is an emotionally intense event, requiring great precision and providing an immediate evaluation of success or absolute failure. That’s what makes this video so incredible. It shows Australian jumper Nicola McDermott flashing a broad smile before attempting to clear 2.02 meters (6 feet, 7.5 inches) at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Maybe McDermott knew something in advance. She cleared the bar cleanly to earn a silver medal in Tokyo. On August 4 in Paris, now married and known as Nicola Olyslagers, she jumped 2.00 meters (6 feet, 6.75 inches) and took silver again.

Or maybe Olyslagers, age 27, smiles because she knows she will praise God no matter what. As she stated on Instagram, “Praise be to God my Rock! He is my strength and song!”

McDermott explains on her website, “The satisfaction that I jump and live by was once performance-driven, to bring meaning to life. Yet that all changed when I was introduced to Jesus.”

In addition to sharing her faith openly, McDermott has formed a ministry called Everlasting Crowns. She describes its purpose as “to see fellow athletes transformed by Jesus’s perfect love, planted in churches, and discipled to be a blessing to every place they are sent. Our hope is that they rise up to not only have faith but compete with an eternal perspective.”

Little Countries, Big Hearts, Speedy Legs

It’s been a great Olympics for little-known Caribbean nations. In addition to Shafiqua Maloney’s performance for St. Vincent and the Grenadines (described below), on August 3, Thea LaFond, competing for Dominica, won the women’s triple jump and Julien Alfred of St. Lucia edged US star Sha’Carri Richardson amidst pouring rain in the 100 meters, gaining the title of “world’s fastest woman.”

These were the first Olympic medals of any color for Dominica and St. Lucia. Alfred added a silver in the 200 meters on August 6.

Alfred, who cites Romans 8:18 on her Instagram page (which she appears to have had no time to update since winning gold), commented in her postrace interview, “I told God that whenever I win, I will give him the glory always, so I thank God for bringing me through, for giving me the strength to come so far.”

LaFond, who achieved her winning distance on the second jump, described the weather conditions as God’s gift to her: “The rain was in my favor. It came down as soon as I was done with the second jump. Thank you, God, for working with me.”

She Overcame Homelessness for Track and Field Glory

“I am a child of God,” reads Shafiqua Maloney’s Instagram bio. Yet this child of God battled homelessness as recently as 2023 on her way to the Olympics.

Last February, the 800-meter runner, who competed in college for the University of Arkansas but represents the Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, shared that she had been homeless for several months during the previous year.

Maloney’s admission got the attention of her nation’s prime minister, and she received an endorsement contract from a Caribbean water company shortly afterwards.

Maloney arrived at Paris ranked 27th in her event but sped through the first two rounds in personal record time to make the finals, where she placed fourth on August 5, just 0.24 seconds short of the bronze medal.

“I’ve been homeless—not having food to eat and all this stuff,” sportswriter Chris Chavez quoted Maloney as saying after she qualified for the finals. “God carried me through all of that and when I got here I had to believe that he didn’t bring me this far just to leave me and that he would carry me straight through.”

Diving Medalist Says, “I Let God Get to Work”

British diver Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix said, “I give glory to God,” and quoted Joshua 1:9 on her Instagram page after earning bronze with partner Lois Toulson in the 10-meter platform synchronized diving competition on July 31.

“This is more than just sport,” she added. “I am proud to represent my country, my family and glorify the name of Jesus.”

After struggling at the Tokyo Olympics and experiencing mental blocks similar to those faced by US gymnast Simone Biles, Spendolini-Sirieix, daughter of British television personality Fred Sirieix, considered quitting the sport. Instead, she regained strength from her Christian faith, which she has shared unhesitantly.

She has described her faith as a “steadying force,” saying that she begins each day with prayer and ends it with Bible study. Asked if she had any superstitions when competing, she replied, “No, I let go and let God get to work. I pray and do Bible study before the competition.”

In Christ, Both Winner and Loser Can Be Victorious

When Brazilian Larissa Pimenta and Italian Odette Giuffrida faced off for a bronze medal in the women’s 52-kilogram judo event on July 28, they already knew each other well.

Very well, in fact. Giuffrida had become a Christian through Pimenta’s influence during a visit to Brazil.

Pimenta won the bout. In her moment of joy and emotion, the first embrace she received was from the friend she had defeated. As she explained in an interview:

She is a special person to me. And what she said was incredibly meaningful. She apeaks Portuguese and we talk quite a lot. Odette came to know God through me—she came to Brazil and found God. And just a few days ago we were talking … about how we were going to give all honor and glory to him. So at that moment … she told me to get up because all honor and glory should be given to him … it was truly significant for me.

Not Your Typical Skateboarder, but He Loves God

“Jesus is King!” shouted 19-year-old skateboarder and fan favorite Cordano Russell when the Olympic announcers introduced him at the men’s street skateboarding final on Monday.

Ranked 16th in the world, Russell, who lives in San Diego but competes for his native Canada, landed his biggest tricks but fell twice and finished seventh. He expressed thanks to his “heavenly Father” on Instagram and vowed to keep training for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

At 6’3” and 230 pounds, Russell is far taller and more muscular than the average skateboarder (and he breaks more boards than his smaller competitors). He began skateboarding at age 4 and convinced his family to move to Carlsbad, California, a hotbed for the sport, when he was 8. Russell displayed potential in high school football but chose pro skateboarding instead.

“It took a lot of praying, a lot of discernment to decide what to do,” Russell told a publication at the University of San Diego, where Russell will enroll this fall. “The reasoning the Lord showed me was that my love and my heart was set in skateboarding.”

According to the piece, Russell “credits his religious upbringing with instilling the work ethic and mental fortitude needed to excel in the demanding world of professional skateboarding.” He mentors young athletes—and when he misses a trick, you can expect him to yell “Chicken nuggets!” instead of a swear word.

Fiji: Great Rugby Players, Great Singers for God

The Pacific island nation of Fiji, with fewer than a million people and a total land area about two-thirds of Hawaii, has 33 athletes at the Paris Olympics, 24 of them rugby players. Fiji’s only Olympic medals ever have come in rugby sevens.

Their men’s team had been undefeated in the Olympics: gold in 2016 in Rio when rugby sevens was introduced and gold in Tokyo in 2021. But after 17 straight wins, they fell to the host nation of France in this year’s gold-medal game.

But that loss has not stopped the Fijian team from doing the other thing they’ve become known for: singing praise to God.

The Fijian team has gained worldwide attention for singing hymns with beautiful harmony in an Olympic Village courtyard. Australian water polo player Tilly Kearns posted a video with the comment, “Having the best seat in the Village being next to the Oceania building.”

A classical music website shared the video and explained that the team was singing “Mo Ravi Vei Jisu,” a Fijian hymn. The words translate as “Put your trust into the Lord and he will guide your way.” The website added, “Listening to the video, you might think you’re overhearing a rehearsal by a professional choir. The harmonies, rhythms, musicality and sheer beauty of their resonant voices make it hard to believe these aren’t formally trained musicians.”

Sharing the Gospel in Sign Language

Brazilian Rayssa Leal, who won a silver medal in street skateboarding at the Tokyo Olympics at age 13, followed up with a bronze this year. Before a preliminary run, she turned to the camera and used sign language to communicate John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

“I did it because I do it in every competition,” Leal told UOL, a Brazilian media outlet. “For me it is important; I am Christian, I believe a lot in God. There I asked for strength and sent a message to everyone, that God really is the way, the truth, and the life.”

South Africa’s Greatest Olympic Swimmer Honors God

Tatjana Schoenmaker Smith announced her retirement from competitive swimming on August 1 after winning her fourth Olympic medal, a silver in the 200-meter breaststroke. She had won the 100 breaststroke three days earlier.

After her win in the 100 breaststroke, Smith put on a T-shirt thanking “my community” for their support. The first three names listed were God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

Prior to the Olympics, Smith stated in a social media post that she was “very excited to swim for the glory of God and to represent her country while doing so.”

At Age Three, He Couldn’t Walk. Now He’s a Race Walking Medalist

Caio Bonfim of Brazil, age 33, declared, “I belong to Jesus” after earning the silver medal in the men’s 20-kilometer race walk on August 1. Quite an achievement for someone who, at age 3, was unable to walk at all.

Bonfim became lactose-intolerant after suffering meningitis and pneumonia as an infant. Surgery left his bowed legs in casts, but as he grew older, he became determined to follow his parents into race walking.

Training in race walking, a source of humor for comedians and commentators alike, brought Bonfim ridicule on the streets of Brasilia, but he persisted, first qualifying for the Olympics in 2012 and placing fourth at Rio in 2016.

When asked in a postrace interview if it was difficult to earn a medal, Bonfim answered, “No, the difficult part was the day I first walked in the street and got insulted.” As for his experience during the competition, he commented, “In the middle of the race, you look around and see one, two, three, five athletes around you and realize, ‘I’m still in tenth place.’ … But I felt the hand of God holding me and saying, ‘Come on, man!'”

Bonfim attends an Assemblies of God church in Sobradinho, a city near Brasilia.

Still a World-Class Swimmer, Now for God

Adam Peaty, world record holder in the 100-meter breaststroke, who became a Christian in 2022 after struggling with alcoholism and depression, narrowly missed gold in Paris, finishing second by 0.02 seconds. He was in tears afterwards, but not disappointed.

Peaty, who now sports a tattooed cross on his chest, explained, “These are happy tears. I’m not crying because I’ve come second, I’m crying because it took so much to get here. I’m a very religious man, and I asked God to show my heart, and this is my heart. I couldn’t have done more.”

Peaty said that when he first visited the church to which he now belongs, the sermon happened to touch on the Olympics.

“No one knew I was coming,” he recalled. “I was just at the back and I was like, ‘if this isn’t meant for me, then what is?’”

With additional reporting by Annie Meldrum

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