Never Stay on the Ground

Posted September 5, 2008

A commentary by David Cobb

American swimmer Michael Phelps won an astonishing eight races, making history by breaking a 36-year record for the most gold medals earned by one athlete in a single Olympics.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, we naturally focused on the spectacular achievements of such elite gold medal winners. As spectators, it is easy to be inspired by those who win.

However, life's most valuable lessons are often not learned in the glory of triumph. So it was for Derek Redmond, the British runner who suffered a debilitating hamstring injury in the 400-meter race in 1992. Now legendary in Olympic history for refusing to leave the track without finishing the event, he crossed the finish line in agonizing pain and with the help of his father.

Likewise, perhaps the most valuable thing we learn from athletics as Christians is that refusing to give up is the supreme victory. It is this measure of success that builds more Christian character than any other.

For that reason, my favorite Olympian of the 2008 summer games will unfortunately be remembered more for her mistakes—costly errors that she made in the last two events of the women's team gymnastics final. I will always remember that despite them, she did not quit.

Alicia Sacramone, the 20-year-old captain for the U.S. women's team is bright, talented and beautiful, with big brown eyes and a contagious smile. Although a seasoned competitor and a veteran of international gymnastics competition, for a few brief moments, on the most magnificent stage in sport, she was all too human, all too fallible.

In a flash of weakness, brought on by nerves and the pressure of the moment, Sacramone botched a somersault mount at the beginning of her balance beam routine. After wildly flailing in an attempt to regain her balance, she found herself back on the ground. In the floor exercises that followed, still rattled by her previous mistake, she could not stick the landing of her second tumbling pass and wound up on her backside.

Needless to say, such spectacularly obvious failures would be crushing blows for any athlete. Yet Sacramone did not stay on the ground, but immediately got back up and finished her routine. Much more impressive than that, she took full ownership of her mistakes in the interviews that followed. Despite several less notable errors by teammates Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin in their routines, Sacramone took full responsibility for the failure of the team to win gold, openly admitting that she had not been able to control her nerves.

A spiritual veteran, the apostle Paul illustrated the Christian walk by comparing it to an athletic competition (see 1 Corinthians 9:24). If we are honest in evaluating our personal character and actions, we each have numerous moments when, like Alicia Sacramone, we simply fail to perform as we should. Like her mistakes, our failings often happen not because we are incapable, but because in the moment we are all too human, all too fallible.

To finish our race as Christians we must never, ever give up. When we fall (and we all do fall), we can never stay down.

Like Derek Redmond and Alicia Sacramone, when we find ourselves on the ground, we must get back up and finish at any cost. "For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity" (Proverbs 24:16, New International Version).

To learn how to rebound from failures and fears, read or download Making Life Work. VT