Pressing On - What the Olympics Teach Us About Perseverance

I’ve been watching a lot of Winter Olympics. I love watching the best athletes in the world compete against each other. I’m also fascinated by how certain countries seem to dominate certain events. Not always of course but it seems to be true that downhill skiing is generally dominated the European nations, cross country seems to belong to the Scandinavians, and the USA seems to be dominating events like curling and hockey. But one thing I love about the Olympics more than anything else is the individual stories of success and perseverance. Once such story came from the men’s 500m speed skating event.

His name is Jordan Stolz. He’s a 21-year-old Christian from Kewaskum, Wisconsin who enjoys eating pizza before every match. He’s also a speed skating phenom. This year in the Olympics, he has already won gold in the 500m (considered to be the most difficult to win due to the short distance and small margins of error) and the 1000m. He will have another chance to win 2 more golds this week. That’s impressive for a 21-year-old. But if all of that isn’t impressive enough, the way he won the 500m gold stands out as one of the greatest individual efforts of athleticism in the history of speed skating, in my humble and limited opinion of course.

The gold medal race pitted Stolz against the Netherlands Jenning de Boo, one of the premier speed skaters in the world. The Dutch have dominated speed skating so far and it looked like the more experienced de Boo was poised to capitalize on the perceived inexperience of Stolz. The race was fast, with both skaters reaching nearly 40 mph. Both skaters were obviously pushing themselves around curves and on straightaways to best the other. When it came down to the wire, Stolz came out victorious by one tenth of a second. The victory seemed improbable to many, including de Boo who collapsed on the ice in exasperation. But here’s the thing that made this victory most stunning: Stolz did it all with a broken skate. That’s right, Stolz’s launch skate (the one he pushes off of at the start) became detached from his heel at the start. This forced him to skate the entire race with it flapping up and down. Now, I had to research how common a problem this was in speed skating because it just didn’t seem to bother Stolz at all that it had happened. It certainly didn’t slow him down. What I found out was that broken skates are extremely rare in speed skating; and if they do happen, it’s not a blade that becomes detached from the boot. And get this: Stolz’s run set a new Olympic record in the men’s 500m! That’s just an incredible accomplishment with a broken skate! Imagine what he could’ve done had his skate not been broken!

Now, I share this today as an anecdotal example of perseverance and exceptionalism. This young man was not expecting his skate to break at the most inopportune time. But when it did, he skated on. He pressed himself and his disadvantage, to such a degree, that he overcame his obstacle and emerged victorious. In a Christian sense, this anecdote stands out as an example of the perseverance that is needed in the faithful life. Sticking with the sports analogy Paul said, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” This means that there will be obstacles that will present themselves to us. They will come at the worst times imaginable. But each one of them will require us to dig deep and press on.

Believer, our goal line lays before us. A crown of life is our reward if we faint not. The Lord Himself will be there waiting on us when we arrive. In the meantime, know that you have a great witness in heaven cheering you on. Persevere. Press on. In time, you will reach the finish line.

Blessings,
Bro. Ben