READING REPORT

10 Reformation pastoral care in the Olympic Village

Ashley Null

Introduction

When a chaplain has long-standing relationships with participants, to be work- ing in the Athletes’ Village during the Olympic Games is like attending ten funerals and one wedding every day. Many more sportspersons bury their dreams during the course of those 17 days than achieve them. Of course, chap- lains have the unique opportunity to share the indescribable joy of a participant who has just fulfilled a life-long quest to attain the ultimate sporting achieve- ment. However, chaplains also have the even greater privilege of standing-by and supporting the many more athletes who have just seen their life’s dream shattered before their eyes and lying now in jumbled, jagged pieces at their feet. For in sport, every person’s thrill of victory comes at the cost of many, many other people’s agony of defeat. That is the nature of competition.

‘It was the best of times; it was the worst of times’

Nothing made this harsh reality clearer to me than US Swimming’s Olympic trials for Sydney 2000 in the 200m men’s freestyle. The meet was in Indianapo- lis, and I had flown in to help with the daily ‘Swimmers’ Chapel’, a programme led by Josh Davis, a three-time Olympic gold medallist at Atlanta – the most of any male athlete at those games. Despite such success, however, Josh had yet to achieve his life-long goal of breaking the American record in the men’s 200m freestyle set by his childhood hero, Matt Biondi. His goal at these trials was to win a second trip to the Olympics with a time that established a new record in his signature event.

Davis’ roommate in Indianapolis was Ugur Taner. Their stories could not have been more different. At 13, Davis was told by his coach to find another sport because he lacked promise. By 14, Taner had become the fastest Ameri- can swimmer for his age ever. In 1992 Davis watched the Barcelona Games on television. Taner competed in them for Turkey as a dual citizen. But in 1996 the roles were reversed. Taner tried and just missed making the US team with Josh. This time it was Taner who was forced to follow the fortunes of his friends on television, while Davis went on to Olympic glory. Four years later,

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at 26, the 2000 trials were Taner’s last chance to fulfil all those expectations that came from his incredible success as a high school student – the expectations of his coaches, of his family and of himself. As Taner (2008: 69) described it, ‘less than 1 percent of all swimmers at the Trials actually make the team, so you can imagine the level of stress I felt preparing for competition’.

As was our usual routine at a major event, I went to Josh’s hotel room at 4:00 pm to pray with him before the finals in the 200m freestyle that evening. Six months earlier, Ugur had become a Christian. As a Turkish American with a decidedly non-Christian family background, his decision to follow Christ had naturally been a great surprise to everyone. But Josh was overjoyed to have a fellow born-again believer on the US National Team, even if they were direct competitors in the 200m freestyle. So Ugur was invited to join our prayer ses- sion. I prayed with each swimmer individually, and then we all prayed together. We asked that God would enable both Josh and Ugur to fulfil their calling and have the peace, power and sense of God’s presence to perform at their very best.

The race was very fast and heart-breakingly close. In less than two minutes it was all over. Josh had at long-last broken the American record. But Ugur had missed the Olympic team once again: this time by 1/100th of a second. Both felt a degree of emotional intensity neither had ever known before. For Josh it was joy and the hope of better things to come. For Ugur it was the bitter pain of the things deeply hoped for that could now never be. We three had dinner together afterwards – a simultaneous toasting of Josh’s new record and a eulogy for Ugur’s long-held athletic dream. I can only describe the meal as surreal. Josh tried desperately to be sensitive to Ugur; Ugur tried desperately to be happy for Josh; I tried desperately to help both sense God’s presence with them at this equally momentous, but vastly different moment in their lives. Sitting at that table, I was confronted with hope and heartache, cheek-by-jowl, the epitome of life as an Olympic chaplain.

What should a chaplain say in such circumstances? How can anyone explain such a turn-of-events? Was 2/100ths of a second too much to ask from God Almighty? Did the Heavenly Watchman who promises neither to slumber nor sleep blink for a mere instant? Or did God just love Josh more? Was Ugur guilty of some secret moral failure, some deep hidden sin that made God think he did not deserve to make the team? Was Josh just more humble and Ugur too proud? Such questions may sound foolish, but not to a grieving sportsperson. When the sting of defeat is still white hot, the human heart cries out for answers. Even years later, when a person least expects it, something can trigger that old memory. Then, with breathtaking speed the pain rushes back in a moment, and the hunger for an explanation roars back to life all over again. As a common locker-room wall poster warns: ‘defeat is worse than death because you have to live with defeat’ (Hoffman, 2010: 152).

In the face of failure, it is all too easy for Christian athletes to see God as their ultimate coach. Those who feel they have made good spiritual choices often expect to be included on God’s winning team and be blessed with athletic success. Those who have made bad choices can easily fear they will be left off

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the roster and cut out of any reward, at least until they can prove themselves to be better spiritually again. When Christian athletes lose, they cannot help but wonder what failure of regular Christian duty, what recent bad moral choice, or even what on-going inner unworthiness made God decide they were not good enough to have their best efforts blessed with success this time. As a result, in the very moment these athletes need help from their relationship with God the most, their faith can easily become just another reason to feel ashamed for being a loser. In the final analysis, the only thing worse at that moment for a competitor than feeling that they let their country, their coach, their teammates, their family, their friends and themselves down is thinking the reason for all this pain is that they have let God down, too.

Even winning is not without its emotional hazards. After years spent dream- ing of how wonderful an Olympic victory is going to be, the thrill, as incredible as it is, fades so very quickly. And the next morning comes with its own fresh set of problems. Success in sport does not insulate winners from all the stresses and strains of normal life, including relationship problems. Indeed, with the elite status of being a world champion comes a whole new set of special prob- lems: ‘Who are my real friends? Does that person care about me, or just want to brag about knowing an Olympic gold medallist? How come everybody always expects something from me? How do I squeeze in all these appearances for my new sponsors while still training to stay on top? Isn’t there any time any more just for me? What if I lose now? How long can I ride this wave? What happens to me when my body finally gives out? Why am I still not satisfied? If winning a gold medal didn’t satisfy me, what will?’

An Olympic chaplain must understand the heart of all those who long to become champions, even when they achieve their goals as well as when they do not. In the face of all of the intense aspirations and anxieties that elite sports people encounter, chaplains must be convincing witnesses to the truth of God’s enduring love and the power of his promises to deliver a peace and purpose that passes all human understanding. Indeed, this is the reason why chaplains are given access to the Olympic Village: to be at the side of those competitors who wish to turn to God in preparation for their events and then to help them make spiritual sense of the results afterwards.

Yet, Shirl Hoffman has suggested that special chaplains for elite sportspersons is fundamentally inappropriate:

Chaplain ministries in hospitals, retirement centers, the military and even on college campuses are easily understood, but the rush to minister to the needs of an outrageously paid and catered-to group of elite entertainers who choose to participate in an enterprise that exacts heavy tolls on life, limb, and Christian witness is not. Usual justifications point to the peculiar pressures that face the athletic star: vulnerabilities brought on by instant riches, the demands of the press, the threat of injury, the dangers posed by sycophants, and the lure of inviting women. But unlike patients in hospi- tals and nursing homes who struggle with difficult circumstances beyond

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their control, athletes struggle with pressures, anxieties, injuries, and emo- tional ups and downs brought on by circumstances of their own choosing. These are part of the bargain struck when they sign a contract or accept a scholarship.

(Hoffman, 2010: 235)

Of course, Hoffman’s argument that people should be expected to lie alone in an uncomfortable bed of their own choosing equally applies to America’s all- volunteer military, for whom he, as a US citizen, readily concedes the appropri- ateness of a chaplaincy ministry. The only difference between the two groups would seem to be Hoffman’s implicit respect for soldiers who wage war and his evident disdain for the enterprise of elite sports and especially for those who engage in them. Yet a more impartial commentator would surely agree that the Olympic authorities would, in fact, be remiss in their duty of care for their participants should they fail to provide chaplains to offer professional support for competitors of faith. Despite Hoffman’s objection, such a task is as crucial for these participants as it is complicated. What then should be a chaplain’s approach to ministry to the sporting elite?

The Gospel as the antidote to the shame culture of elite sports

The greatest pastoral need for any overachiever is to understand that the gospel is the antidote to performance-based identity. Olympians are no exception. So many factors in competitive sports encourage athletes to base their self-worth on what they are able to prove they can do. More often than not, they are trained to feel good about themselves only when they are winning. As one ath- lete told a researcher, ‘if you lose, you’re nothing’ (Hoffman, 2010: 210). When they do lose, they are expected to internalize a deep personal dissatisfaction with themselves. For only if their emotional experience of losing is sufficiently horrendous will they find the willpower to make every sacrifice necessary to claw their way back to self-respect by winning the next time. Current research only confirms how common amongst perfectionist sportspersons is the fear of failure with its attendant sense of worthlessness and shame (Sagar and Stoeber, 2009; Sagar, Boardely and Kavussanu, 2011).

According to Andre Agassi’s (2009) lyrical and deeply illuminating autobi- ography Open, by the age of 7 he associated winning tennis tournaments with emotional safety: safety from his father’s rage at his not being good enough, safety from his own sense of shame at failing to prove he was good enough, safety from his consequent deep self-loathing – a self-imposed emotional abuse which the mature Agassi labelled ‘torture’. At age 10, a well-meaning coach told Agassi how to harness his shame for success:

You’re hurting right now, hurting like heck, but that just means you care. Means you want to win. You can use that. Remember this day. Try to use

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this day as motivation. If you don’t want to feel this hurt again, good, do everything you can to avoid it. Are you ready to do everything? I nod.

(Agassi, 2009: 55)

At 22, Agassi discovered that even achieving a Grand Slam was not enough to heal the wounds from all the self-torture which he had inflicted upon himself to gain such rewards. After his victory at Wimbledon, he realized that ‘winning changes nothing . . . . A win doesn’t feel as good as a loss feels bad, and the good feeling doesn’t last as long as the bad. Not even close’ (Agassi, 2009: 167). Because so many elite sportspersons instinctively shame themselves as the price of, and power for, excellence, most champions compete not to win, since the thrill of victory is so short-lived, but rather compete not to lose, so as to avoid the bitter sting of their own deeply cutting emotional self-flagellation.

Therefore, the first task of any chaplain to elite athletes is to help them learn to separate their personal identity from their athletic performance. For only love has the power to make human beings feel truly significant, not achieve- ment. Only knowing that they are loved, regardless of their current perfor- mance, has the power to make Olympians feel emotionally whole.

Failure to make the crucial distinction between significance and achieve- ment will forever hold the self-esteem of athletes hostage to all the ups and downs of competitive life. Like all human beings, elite athletes need to know that they are valued not for what they have or have done or what they may still do, but for who they are, with both their good points and their bad. Only really being loved, continuously, as they are, deep down inside, with all their fears and failures, with all their deeds and dreams, only that kind of love will give them a sense of worth and value that will not go away, even when their athletic prowess does.

Of course, the only source for an assured, steadfast, unconditional love is God himself. Christian sportspeople, therefore, have a wonderfully clear opportunity for a different source of identity. According to the Bible, their worth and value is to be found solely in the love God proved he has for them by dying for them on the cross. Such was the clear message of the Protestant Reformation’s recov- ery of the Pauline doctrine of solifidianism (Null, forthcoming). While we were yet enemies, Christ died to reconcile us to God (Rom. 5:8–10), and, through the gift of personal faith (Rom. 3:23–4), sinners are reckoned righteous, despite their evident shortcomings (Rom. 4:5). There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1). They are adopted as God’s own children for- ever (Rom. 8:15–17). Nothing in all creation can ever separate believers from the love of God as revealed in Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:31–9).

In the Reformation tradition, Christians do not merit either their justifica- tion or their sanctification, neither wholly by their own efforts nor in part by their cooperation with God’s grace. Both right-standing with God and loving right afterwards like God are the work of God himself within the hearts of his children. Individuals must certainly make choices in the Christian life, but good choices are always and only the fruit of God’s promise to be at work in

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believers, drawing them ever closer into fellowship with himself so that they may become more like him. Once again, Paul summed up this aspect of Ref- ormation spirituality the best:

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

(Phil. 2:12–13)

Naturally, obedience to the ways of God is an essential part of being a member of His family. However, in the end even obedience itself is a gift that comes to Christians because of God’s faithfulness to bring them into full relationship with him. After all, if nothing will separate believers from the love of God in Christ Jesus, then the love of God must seek to drive out, little by little, although never fully in this life, the self-centeredness of their hearts which naturally shies away from divine intimacy. Only the power of divine love can allure human beings to learn to love serving God and others more than sin and selfishness.

Here is the true nature of God’s unconditional love for his children. Implicit within the gift of love is a calling of another into relationship. And any rela- tionship requires both individuals to give up some measure of autonomy so as to think of the other’s needs and desires, at least a little. For sinners to accept the gift of God’s love is to admit into their hearts a power from outside them- selves that then tugs at their very self-centeredness, seeking to draw them out of themselves into relationship with him. Consequently, divine perfect love must seek to stir up in believers an equally full, unreserved selfless self-giving of all of themselves to their God. Therein lies the gospel’s power as the greatest antidote to performance-based identity. For God himself has promised to keep loving sinners until his love makes them as lovely as he himself is. In the age to come they will be eternal splendours, shining brighter than the Milky Way, for they will be radiated by, and radiating to, the Trinity as well as one another the transforming unconditional love of God, forever.

Why is the Reformation’s teaching about obedience as a gift such an impor- tant principle for chaplains to communicate to elite athletes? Only a proper understanding of sanctification by grace will save Christian athletes from seeing God as the ultimate ‘bad dad’ sports coach who cuts them from the team in the face of spiritual failure. Only knowing that personal holiness is God’s gift, not another achievement they have to earn, will save elite sportspersons from fear- ing that God’s love is as contingent on their performance as every affirmation in the Olympic world. Only knowing the true nature of grace will save Christian athletes from spiritual shame at the very moment they need to turn to God for help in fighting off sporting shame for failing to reach their competitive goals. Only knowing the alluring power of God’s unconditional love will save elite sportspersons from turning to the treadmill of self-loathing, where they look to self-hatred as the best motivation for fighting sin harder so that they can win

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back divine approval to ensure that God will bless them with victory the next time. Only knowing the gospel will foster emotional wholeness in Christian athletes facing the immense pressures of Olympic competition (Null, 2008; for Roman Catholic perspectives, see Mazza, 2008; Novak, 1976).

Three Reformation pastoral questions

Once elite sportspersons have come to identify the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ as their enduring source of worth and value, they need learn how to apply this truth practically to their competitive life – especially during such an emotionally intense event as the Olympic Games. Once again, the insights of the Reformation prove helpful. According to the English Reformer Thomas Cranmer, grace produces gratitude; gratitude engenders love; love births repent- ance; repentance leads to good works: good works bring about a better society (Null, 2004). Christian athletes must first focus on what God has done for them through sport before they can seek to do something for God through sport. Three questions are particularly useful in enabling Christian athletes to experi- ence the Reformation’s integration of their faith and their sport: (1) How has God’s gift of sport enabled you to experience joy? (2) How has God’s gift of sport drawn you closer to Him? (3) How has God’s gift of sport drawn you closer to others in His service?

How has God’s gift of sport enabled you to experience joy?

Most evangelical sports theology begins with Jesus’ parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14–30). Christian athletes are told that they have a responsibility to be good stewards of the gifts which God has given them: consequently, they need to honour God through developing their athletic talent (e.g. Athletes in Action, 1994: 13–15). While such an appeal to duty and obligation fits perfectly with the sporting world’s expectation of performance-based affirmation, a Reforma- tion understanding of Christian vocation does not begin with what believers must do for God but with what God has already done for them and not merely in justification but in sanctification as well. As the Apostle Paul taught, even the good works Christians do for God are actually God’s gifts to them which he has carefully prepared in advance to give to them at the kairos moment (Eph. 2:10).

Of course, God ultimately intends his gifts to be used to build up the body (Eph. 4:12) and to promote unity with himself (Eph. 4:13). However, the first reason He gives good gifts to human beings is the evangelism of joy. As a wit- ness to his providential care for humankind, God gives the people of the earth sun and rain, plenty of food to eat and the opportunity to turn their hand to a variety of activities in order that they may have joy (Deut. 16:16; Matt. 5:45; Acts 14:17). The Psalmist recognized sport as one of these joy-giving activities: ‘In the heavens [God] has pitched a tent for the sun which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course’ (19:4–5). By comparing the feeling champions experience when performing

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their sport to a honeymoon – intense physical satisfaction and emotional con- tentment all at the same time – the Bible could not offer much higher praise for the joy of sport. As a God-given gift, every race, every game, every perfor- mance is an opportunity to experience afresh the thrill that comes from doing something God designed the heart of every sportsperson to love. In the film Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell aptly expressed this Reformation approach to sport: ‘I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast, and when I run I feel his pleasure.’

The Bible teaches that such joy is essential for enduring the hardships of life. Paul noted that because of their former abundance of joy, the Galatians would have gladly plucked out their own eyes, if it would have relieved Paul of the suffering his own caused him (Gal. 4:15). Hebrews says that Jesus ignored the shame and endured the cross because of ‘the joy set before him’ (Heb. 12:2). Little wonder, then, that Nehemiah told the people of Jerusalem that ‘the joy of the Lord is your strength’ (Neh. 8:10).

Some Christian coaches today seek to harness joy, in particular the joy of relationships forged under fire, as a healthy alternative for motivating their ath- letes through the stress and strain of competition. Coach Biff Poggi of the Gilman, Maryland, High School football team, begins each new season with this pep talk:

We’re gonna go through this whole thing as a team. We are the Gilman football community. A community. This is the only place probably in your whole life where you’re gonna be together and work together with a group as diverse as this – racially, socially, economically, you name it. It’s a beau- tiful thing to be together like this. You’ll never find anything else like it in the world – simply won’t happen. So enjoy it. Make the most of this. It’s yours . . . . The relationships you make here . . . you will always have them . . . for the rest of your life, the rest of your life. Cherish this, boys, cherish this.

(cited in Marx, 2003: 44; cf. Ehrmann, 2011; Drape, 2009: 45–6)

Coach Poggi is a wise man. Despite the ups and downs of life in competitive sports, there is so much to cherish as part of that experience, especially the rela- tionships formed along the way.

Now what is true for a high-school football season is so much more true of the privilege to be competing in the Olympic Games. As a result, the first task of a chaplain in the Olympic Village is to help participants savour the sheer joy of being an Olympian. One of the best ways to do so is to ask participants to reflect on all the blessings they have received from God through sport over the years – counting them one by one, as the old hymn says: all the people who have invested in them; all the friends they have made; all the places they have seen; all the maturity in Christ they have gained; all the love they have expe- rienced. Nothing pushes back Olympic anxieties like realizing that nothing which will happen during the Games can ever take away the joys of the athletic

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journey that brought them there. Then, of course, there are all the wonderful experiences of Village life to relish while they last. For example, Josh Davis has famously compared worship in the Olympic religious services centre to a fore- taste of heaven; people from all lands and languages gathered together, acknowl- edging the goodness of God and his lordship over all, regardless of the results of their competition. Counting it all joy is the best way for participants to prepare for their competition and to take in stride the results when they come.

How has God’s gift of sport drawn you closer to him?

The second reason God gives gifts to people is to draw them into ever deeper personal fellowship with him (Eph. 4:13). Martin Luther understood this principle and argued that a person’s vocation was a divinely devised school of discipleship (see Wingren, 1957: 28–38). Consequently, God has equipped all vocations with ‘trouble and toil’ to confront Christians with their need to turn to Him in prayer to be changed according to his Word. Here is the practical arena where God acts on his promise to turn His children inside out, enabling them to learn to die daily to ego and reorienting them toward loving service to Him as well as others. By leaning on the promises of God and asking His Spirit to write them on their hearts daily, Christian athletes have a never-ending stream of opportunities to grow in living out the truths of their faith:

that their identity is based on the cross, not on today’s success or failure; that their power to give their all during competition comes not from their

own willpower, but from Christ who is at work in them to strengthen and draw their wills to his, for discipline and endurance are the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22);

that their right-standing with God stays constant because of God’s grace, regardless of all chances and changes of the world of sport, even regardless of all the vagaries of their own faithfulness to him, in sorrow and in joy;

that living by faith means to trust that the value of all the struggle, sweat and self-investment to become an Olympian is not ultimately determined by their results during the games but by God’s faithfulness to use everything for his eternal purposes;

that if their day of competition turns out to be Good Friday, just because they are Christians does not mean that the nails will not hurt; however, God is a good steward of pain. The stinging bitterness of defeat will not have the last word. Easter will come. It may take three days, three years or even three decades, but Easter will come. God is faithful to work all things together for good (Rom. 8:28).

For so many Christian competitors in the Olympic Village, the games become the school of discipleship where they face the crucifixion of their deepest held aspirations as part of a divine plan to enable them to experience first-hand an

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even deeper joy of seeing God’s love work all things together for good at the kairos moment.

How has God’s gift of sport drawn you closer to others in his service?

If Luther emphasized vocation as a divine means to deepen individual faith, Calvin emphasized vocation as the divine call to take that deepened faith and work to restore human beings and their life together to God’s intention in creation (Niebuhr, 1951). Once sportspeople have reflected on the joy God has given them through sport and the intimacy they have gained with Jesus as a result, they are equipped to make a difference for Christ. For now they have more joy and more of Jesus to share.

The Olympic Games offer so many opportunities to restore both sport and the people of sport to God’s purposes. By how they participate in the games (Weir and Daniels, 2004), Christian athletes can witness to sport as something other than overly commercialized entertainment whose stars believe that ‘you ain’t trying if you ain’t cheating’ (Hoffman, 2010: 210). They can compete drug- free and in the spirit of the rules, not just by the letter, thus showing a credible alternative to the win-at-all-cost mentality that so pervades the Olympics. They can reject treating their opponent as an adversary who threatens their identity, but rather value them as a co-worker whose achievement and active resistance will call forth in the Christian a higher standard of sporting excellence which could not be achieved alone (Weir and Daniels, 2004). They can give their all during competition, expecting to sense Jesus’ presence within them, since when they are in motion they are in harmony with the purpose for which Christ created them. When fear of failure whispers in their ear that they are going to lose, they can refuse to pull back, even though giving less than their best would make defeat easier to bear. For, ironically, it is easier psychologically to feel guilty for not having tried hard enough, than to feel powerless to have changed the situation. Consequently, Christian athletes can give everything they have to the very last moment of their competition, despite knowing that to do so will only intensify their emotional pain should they, in the end, fail. In victory, they can exhibit humility and gratitude, realizing that most other Christian athletes have worked just as hard and prayed as much, but God had set aside other gifts than Olympic success for them. In defeat, they can refuse to torture themselves with self-loathing or shame those on their team whose failures may have con- tributed to their own disappointment. They can rejoice for those who win and weep with those who have not, regardless of their own situation. They can, in short, bring the joy and hope of Jesus to all they meet which, of course, is the very best form of evangelism.

When God allows Olympians to see the difference their life and witness to Jesus have made in other people’s lives – whether over a conversation in the locker room after a game in the Olympic stadium, over a cappuccino in the Village McCafe or in front of a bank of cameras before a televised audience of

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billions – that joy, that real joy, abides long after the Closing Ceremonies are over, even long after their physical prowess is gone. In the light of that joy, all the heart-ache along the way will seem as mere mosquito bites, real but only momentary pains of no lasting significance (2 Cor. 4:17).

Conclusion: God’s redeeming love

In the Christian life, God takes all of his children on journeys they do not wish to go. He makes them travel by roads they do not wish to use. All so that he can bring them to places they never wish to leave. With Jesus, pain, no matter how great – even when of Olympic proportions – never has the last word. Nothing has made this hopeful reality clearer to me as an Olympic chaplain than watch- ing God’s pastoral care of Josh Davis and Ugur Taner since the 2000 Trials.

In 2004 Davis himself tasted the bitter disappointment of not qualifying for another Olympics. He would eventually retire to concentrate on his great love – motivating people to dream great dreams and achieve their best. In the intervening years, he has had the joy of speaking to literally hundreds of thou- sands of people. Today, amongst many other activities, he leads the Mutual of Omaha Breakout Swim Clinics, dispensing advice on technique, motivation and a healthy spiritual life to age-group swimmers all around the US.

And Taner? Faced with the death of his life-long ambition so shortly after he became a Christian, Ugur had to immediately wrestle deep within his soul as to why he had turned away from his family background to come to Jesus. Had he in reality just tried to take out an ‘insurance policy’? Was he merely hoping to get the Christian God on his side so he would surely win his place on the Olympic team like Josh? If so, now was the time to admit his mistake, move on and move away from the Christian lies he had so foolishly listened to. Or were the claims of Christ true? Was Jesus’ love in his heart more than enough to make life worth living, regardless of his loss? If so, now Ugur needed to lean on the grace of God to sustain him through all his doubts and despair until God made clear to him a new, deeply satisfying direction for his future.

In the end, Taner discovered that Jesus’ love would not let him go. Despite the ups and downs of coming to terms with never being a US Olympian, Ugur found his trust, hope, love and even, yes, gratitude towards his saviour grow- ing little by little with every passing day. And Ugur was not the only person to notice the deepening, maturing faith at work in him. Liesl, his not- yet- Christian wife, was too close not to see the changes happening to this man she loved so much. She had wanted nothing else but to heal her husband’s broken heart, but her own heart broke when she discovered she could not. Then, when she saw Jesus doing for her husband what she longed to see, she found herself slowly falling in love with a saviour who so clearly loved her husband as deeply as she did. Four years later, Ugur’s long-standing prayers were answered. At the kairos moment, Liesl became a Christian, and together they began to build a new family heritage – a Christian heritage – that they now share with six wonderful children. Today, they manage a large swimming school in California,

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and their lives continue to focus on the joy of serving Jesus, not because he made Ugur’s Olympic dreams come true, but because Christ fulfilled an even deeper desire in Ugur’s heart – to have a family knit close together in Christ – and Jesus did it in a completely unexpected but fully effective way. In the end, Christian Olympians, regardless of their performance during the Games, will find their ‘mouths filled with laughter and their tongues with songs of joy’. For with Jesus all God’s children will one day be able to say: ‘The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy’ (Ps. 126: 2–3).

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