For two weeks every four years, sports fans – and those who usually couldn’t care less – go barmy for bobsleigh, crazy for curling and mad for moguls (bumpy skiing for the uninitiated!)The Winter Olympics in Vancouver comes to a close this weekend and it’s been a fantastic fortnight showcasing speed, strength and agility on the Canadian snow and ice.
The death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, fatally injured in practice on the eve of the games, was a tragic way to start proceedings and demonstrated just how dangerous winter sports are.
On a positive note, Amy Williams’ achievement in the women’s skeleton last week was brilliant. She hurtled at 90mph on her trusty sled named Arthur and grabbed Britain’s first individual gold medal for 30 years (above). All the practice on specially-cut runners at Bath University has paid off.
Then there’s been the weather. First, there wasn’t enough snow and tonnes of the white stuff had to be imported. Then, a mix of warm temperatures, snow, rain and fog led to some events being postponed. And we thought the UK winter had been unpredictable!
Behind the scenes, three thousand Christian volunteers with the More than Gold ministry have been reaching out to both athletes and visitors in Vancouver which, significantly, has the lowest church attendance of any city in North America.
John Boyer, Baptist minister and chaplain of Manchester United, is part of the multi-faith chaplaincy team at the games. In both the highs of gold medals and the lows of human tragedy, John says that he and others are there ‘to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice’.
Finally, I’ve been reading testimonies of some Olympians who follow Jesus. American speed skater Chad Hedrick was a brash bad boy when he won three medals in Torino four years ago. However, Chad has since found faith and it has transformed his attitude.
He’s been competing in Canada with ‘CGIM’ emblazoned on his skate blade – standing for ‘see God in me’. God blessed Chad with a bronze in the 1,000-metre event last week.
This blog first appeared in The Baptist Times, 25 February 2010
The death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, fatally injured in practice on the eve of the games, was a tragic way to start proceedings and demonstrated just how dangerous winter sports are.
On a positive note, Amy Williams’ achievement in the women’s skeleton last week was brilliant. She hurtled at 90mph on her trusty sled named Arthur and grabbed Britain’s first individual gold medal for 30 years (above). All the practice on specially-cut runners at Bath University has paid off.
Then there’s been the weather. First, there wasn’t enough snow and tonnes of the white stuff had to be imported. Then, a mix of warm temperatures, snow, rain and fog led to some events being postponed. And we thought the UK winter had been unpredictable!
Behind the scenes, three thousand Christian volunteers with the More than Gold ministry have been reaching out to both athletes and visitors in Vancouver which, significantly, has the lowest church attendance of any city in North America.
John Boyer, Baptist minister and chaplain of Manchester United, is part of the multi-faith chaplaincy team at the games. In both the highs of gold medals and the lows of human tragedy, John says that he and others are there ‘to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice’.
Finally, I’ve been reading testimonies of some Olympians who follow Jesus. American speed skater Chad Hedrick was a brash bad boy when he won three medals in Torino four years ago. However, Chad has since found faith and it has transformed his attitude.
He’s been competing in Canada with ‘CGIM’ emblazoned on his skate blade – standing for ‘see God in me’. God blessed Chad with a bronze in the 1,000-metre event last week.
This blog first appeared in The Baptist Times, 25 February 2010
Photo credit: The Last Minute
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