This article was first published on my old bornagainbloke.com blog on 14 August, 2012.

The London 2012 Olympics were filled with many fantastic moments: Mo Farah’s double distance running Golds, Usain Bolt’s double treble of Olympic sprint wins; Bradley Wiggins becoming the ever cyclist to win the Tour de France and Olympic cycling Gold in the same year.

But what encouraged me most as a Christian was the sheer number of athletes openly displaying their faith. In a country like Great Britain where religion has largely been marginalised in the media, it was wonderful to see so much prayer on prime-time TV.

It was almost funny how unprepared our British broadcasters were for describing what the athletes were doing: when Usain Bolt knelt down to pray after his 200m victory, all the BBC commentator could say was “Usain Bolt, there, trying to take a few moments to himself”. No he wasn’t! He was quite clearly giving his time and the glory to God. Ditto Mo Farah after each of his races.

And when it came to women’s 5,000m Olympic champion Meseret Defar’s race winning celebration, words failed the commentator completely. I had noticed how Defar – like Bolt – was crossing herself before the start of the race, and when she crossed the finish line in first place she pulled out from her vest a picture of the Virgin Mary and infant Jesus, kissing it and showing it to the camera.

Ethiopian Defar is an Orthodox Christian, and it is currently a period of fasting in her home country in preparation for the feast of Our Lady’s assumption, which is celebrated tomorrow.

What faith brings to sport

Is it anything more than a coincidence of demographics that so many elite athletes have a strong faith? Yes, there is a link, according to the athletes and sports psychologists interviewed in the excellent recent BBC radio programme Leap of Faith. In a nutshell, athletes with a strong concept of the eternal nature of reality are more able to put their sport into perspective. This means they are more likely to feel relaxed and perform better in high-pressure events such as Olympic finals.

It also means that they tend to react better to setbacks such as losing and injury. In fact there is evidence – according to those interviewed on Leap of Faith – that athletes with faith recover more quickly from injury.

Sports scientists on the programme suggest this is the placebo effect of athletes believing that God will help them through their injury, aiding both their mental and physical recovery. However, this is pure conjecture on their part, and I would argue that while I do not believe God is in the business of intervening in the outcome of races, I do believe that he is there responding to each of us when we pray. His presence can reassure that all will be well. It gives confidence. It is God’s real presence and not a placebo that gives athletes their bouncebackability.

What sport can teach us about life and faith

As well as faith aiding an athlete’s performance, sport can also give us valuable lessons on how we live our lives and act out our faith as Christians.

Saint Paul was particularly keen on using athletic metaphors to describe the Christian life. While throughout his writings Paul makes it clear that there is nothing we can do to earn God’s love – it is a freely given gift – having received it we must strive to live up to His Grace that has been lavished on us.

Writing to the Christian community in the Ancient Greek city of Corinth – home of the biennial Isthmian games, at that time second in fame only to the Olympic games – Paul explains to the Corinthians that just as athletes put themselves through rigorous training to win the prize of a crown of foliage, so we must live morally rigorous lives in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ. At the same time, athletes are focussed; their lives are focussed. So we at all times must be focussed on the ultimate prize of eternal life:

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27 ESV)

Paul’s belief in the need for Christians to possess athletic discipline is reinforced when later, imprisoned in Rome and awaiting execution, he writes to his protégée Timothy:

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8 ESV)

I believe that there is an important lesson from Paul’s writings and the heroics witnessed at the London 2012 Olympics for all of us living in the modern western world.

We live in a consumerist, have-now-pay-later culture, where instant gratification is the name of the game. Is it any wonder that religious faith, focussed on eternal reality beyond what we can see, is dying out in a culture obsessed with the idea that anything that matters must be owned or experienced right now?

In our prayer lives, we must remember that God’s timescale isn’t the same as ours, and we must not get sucked into the contemporary culture by thinking that prayers must be answered instantly. God is not a vending machine. He knows best for when and how to answer our prayers: just as training for the Olympics is no doubt painful, waiting on seemingly “unanswered” prayers can also hurt deeply. But just as that pain of training all becomes worthwhile when an athlete wins a gold medal, so suffering is transformed into spiritual growth when our prayer is finally answered.

Jesus Christ’s gruesome suffering on the cross was transformed into the most glorious act in history by his resurrection. Let’s keep our eyes on the prize.