The Top Christian Highlights of the Paris Olympics

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.

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