Faith and Family / Sean Gallagher

Olympics create many lasting memories that strengthen life lessons

I know from experience how the Olympics create memories for a lifetime.

I was just 5 when American Dorothy Hamill won the gold in ladies single figure skating in 1976 at the Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. Maybe part of that memory has to do with my sister Kelly, and so many other girls around the country then, rushing to get a bobbed hairstyle just like Hamill’s.

Then there are the memories of the gold medal-winning U.S. men’s hockey team and its “Miracle on Ice” at the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, N.Y., when I was 9.

And for this generation’s Simone Biles, there’s Mary Lou Retton for mine. In 1984, she memorably became the first American to win gold in the women’s gymnastics individual all-around competition.

Memories that stand the test of time often remain in our hearts and minds because of the beautiful and profound truths they powerfully illustrate about who we are as followers of Jesus Christ and, more broadly, as human beings.

The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris did just that in more ways than I can describe in this short column. So, I’ll limit myself to two events in men’s track and field: the gold-medal win on Aug. 4 in the 100-meter dash by American Noah Lyle, and the gold medal win on Aug. 6 in the 1500-meter race by Indianapolis native and 2019 Cathedral High School graduate Cole Hocker.

The men who won both events only took the lead at the end, with Lyle literally getting out front for the first time in his last step. Leaning his torso forward at just the right instant, he crossed the finish line a thousandth of a second ahead of the silver medalist Kishane Thompson of Jamaica.

Similarly, Hocker was in the back half of the 12-man, 1500-meter final field for much of the first half of the race. Although he started moving up, he was still in third place with only about 100 meters to go. Finally, Hocker, seemingly gaining more energy as the race concluded, surged to the front for the first time about five steps before crossing the finish line.

These races were amazing and memorable by themselves. But they were also dramatic reminders of realities at the heart of life: Never presume that all is lost—or won. And always have hope.

Hopefully, my sons will gain Olympic memories this summer like I did when I was their age and learn important life lessons in the process.

To even qualify for the Olympics—let alone win a medal—you know full well that you’re going up against the best of the best and could easily end up last. But you’re also fully confident that you’re able to come out on top. Never presume. Always have hope.

These are two attitudes that each of us in families—parents and children alike—need to bring to our daily lives. That’s because our lives have been transformed by the grace of baptism into a race to our heavenly home. No worries, though. This is a race that each of us is empowered by that same grace to win each day.

Grace by itself, though, won’t get us across the finish line. We have to cooperate with it. So, never presume that victory is yours. But, at the same time, always live in the hope that this grace, if we embrace it each day of our lives, will give us the power to receive the ultimate victory in heaven. †