A Conversation with NBC Sports Analyst and US Olympic Gymnast Jonathan Horton

Known as one of the steadying forces within the U.S. gymnastics community, Jonathan Horton has collected seven gold medals at the U.S. National Championships, three gold medals at the World Cup, and he brought home a silver and bronze medal from Beijing after his first of two appearances in the Summer Olympics.

In this conversation, Horton talks about how childhood hyperactivity set him on a path to the Olympics, how his time at the University of Oklahoma shaped his personal faith in God, and what he hopes to accomplish in London this summer:

Chad Bonham: From reading your story, it sounds like your parents, instead of putting you on medication, got you involved with gymnastics.

Jonathan Horton: It’s absolutely true. I tell people all the time that if Ritalin had been a popular thing when I was young, my parents would have definitely put me on that. But I had way too much energy. I was out of control. So they put me in a sport that they thought was the most active. Gymnastics was perfect for me.

Bonham: At what point did you begin chasing your Olympic dream?

Horton: It didn’t really hit me until 1996. I was watching the Games in Atlanta on TV. That’s when I first thought to myself, “Wow, this is what I want to do.” That became my number one goal at that point. I was 11 years old. After that, I started training much harder, but it wasn’t until 2004, when I qualified for my first Olympics Trials that I knew this was a possibility. I finished 12th that year and that pushed me to work hard the next four years to make the next team and in 2008 I made it.”

Bonham: What principles have helped you get to this point?

Horton: Gymnastics is such a complex sport. It’s one of the best character building sports in the world. One of the big ones I’ve had to work on my whole life is how to manage my frustration. Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve been extremely competitive and I like to win. It doesn’t matter if it’s a video game or if I’m playing basketball outside with my buddies. I want to win. As a gymnast, the sport is so hard. You don’t learn things right away. It’s not one of those sports where you can jump up on the high bar and learn a new skill in one try. It takes a lot of patience. It takes a lot of time and perseverance. I used to get so frustrated when I couldn’t learn something. It sounds funny now that I think about it because it doesn’t happen anymore, but I used to throw fits when I was 12, 13 years old. I would cry when I couldn’t do something. I had to learn how to overcome that and be more patient and take my time. Now, I’m a much more disciplined person. I know how to be patient and I know how to take my time learning things.

Bonham: What did you bring home from your experience at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing?

Horton: It’s not every day that you get to look at yourself in the mirror and think, “Wow, I have been blessed enough to finally accomplish one of my big dreams.” It was something I’d worked for my whole life. I remember stepping off the plane and seeing all the banners with the Olympic rings. I was just so thankful—more so than for the results. I was thankful to be a part of it and to represent my country in the pinnacle event of my sport. The Olympic medals were awesome. I’ll never forget competing with the team. But just being a part of it, I’ll cherish that forever.

Bonham: Tell me about your faith journey.

Horton: I grew up in a Baptist church here in Houston. I always had God in my life. I always believed in God and had faith in God, but it wasn’t until I got to college that I took my own faith to another level. As a kid, you do it because your parents make you do it. It’s just part of your weekly routine. But it wasn’t until I was challenged with the things outside of my family, you know, the worldly temptations, when my faith really grew. I had to turn to Him. As my training got more difficult and as I was trying to balance school and what my friends wanted me to do with gymnastics, I had to turn to God. My faith grew tremendously. Now that I’m married, my wife and I can work together and push each other in our growth with the Lord. My gymnastics has gotten better. My faith has gotten stronger. God is number one in my life and He’s the reason that I have the success that I’ve had.

Bonham: What was the spiritual catalyst for your growth in college?

Horton: It was a couple of my teammates. My best man from my wedding is one of my best friends in the world. His name is Jacob Messina. We were freshman together. We lived together all the way through college. We shared the same beliefs. Our faith was really strong. We challenged each other. A lot of our friends would go to the bars and party. It was tempting. We’re human beings. Every now and then we’d fall short, but we would challenge each other. We’d remind each other that this wasn’t what God wanted us to do. Before knew it, probably about the end of my sophomore year, we decided to start a Bible study. We invited a bunch of guys from our gymnastics team. There was a lot of accountability for each other. Once we got more people involved, it just helped us grow. We had six or seven guys that would come over to the house. Jacob played the drums. Another one of my friends played guitar and we would worship. My faith became so much stronger once I was on my own.

Bonham: Are you hopeful that God will use you to be a witness wherever else this path might take you?

Horton: That’s always been my prayer. I pray every night that God takes the platform that He’s given me and uses me, speaks through me—not only through my words but through my actions as an athlete. I just pray for opportunities and I know He’ll speak to me and show me those opportunities where I’ll be able to show my faith. I go to Dr. Ed Young’s church down here in Houston and he preached about when it’s right to hide your faith and when it's right to show your faith. He told us that when you feel like hiding it, you need to show it, and when you feel like you’re being prideful and you want to show it, hide it. That really hit me hard. It would be really easy when you’re on live TV and the whole world is watching you to want to hide your faith. You want to avoid the persecution that the world is going to give you for it. But it’s in that moment when I really need to show it. That’s when I need to use my platform as a gymnast to show what the Lord has done for me.

Check out Chad Bonham’s book Glory of the Games featuring Olympic athletes such as Shannon Miller, Dave Johnson, Josh Davis, Tamika Catchings, Ruth Riley, Michael Chang, and Tobin Heath.


Photos courtesy of USA Olympic Team/NBC Sports.

A Conversation with Legendary US Olympic Champion Gymnast Shannon Miller

She was the leader of the “Magnificent Seven,” the 1996 U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team that won the first gold medal in the Team Competition. And with a combined 16 medals from the Olympics and the World Championships, Shannon Miller is the second most decorated American gymnast of all time (just behind Simone Biles who surpassed her at the 2016 Rio Games).

In this conversation, Miller talks about the challenges she faced as an elite international competitor and the life-changing obstacle she most recently overcame:

Chad Bonham: What was the most difficult circumstance you had to overcome during your journey as an Olympian?

Shannon Miller: I dislocated and broke my elbow several months before the 1992 Olympics Games. This was my first opportunity to attempt to qualify for the United States Olympic Team. That opportunity seemed to disappear in the span of about 2 seconds with a wrong landing on an uneven bar dismount. That injury was the turning point of my career. I had to decide, was I going to give up or fight through that obstacle. I chose to fight.

Bonham: How did your faith help you through that situation?

Miller: I have relied on my faith in every situation. During this time, when I wanted to ask “why me,” “why now,” I had to stop myself and just know that God had a plan for me. That injury ended up being the best thing to happen to my career. While I couldn’t do certain skills until the arm healed I was able to work other areas that I normally wouldn’t have had as much time for. I became a stronger, more flexible, more well rounded athlete than ever before. I am thankful for that learning experience and have continued to rely on it for all aspects of my life.

Bonham: In what ways has your faith helped you beyond your competitive career?

Miller: I faced my most difficult challenge in early 2011 when I was diagnosed with a rare germ cell tumor, a form of ovarian cancer. I was confused and upset. I didn’t understand how this was happening. I had a 15-month-old little boy that needed me. Initially there was so much happening, so many tests, that I forgot to breathe. After surgery and learning I would need nine weeks of chemotherapy, I was oddly at peace with the treatment. I knew it would be difficult, although I didn’t realize how difficult until I got started. However, I felt God’s hand at work. I had to let go and trust that He had a plan, a wonderful plan for me. Cancer is certainly not a good thing but that experience has blessed me in ways I never thought possible.

Bonham: How do you hope that your life and the public example you’ve shown inspires others?

Miller: My hope is that my story inspires people to never give up, never set limits on their potential and always rely on their faith as a source of strength. 

Check out Chad Bonham’s book Glory of the Games featuring Olympic athletes such as Shannon Miller, Dave Johnson, Josh Davis, Tamika Catchings, Ruth Riley, Michael Chang, and Tobin Heath.

Photos courtesy of Shannon Miller.

A Conversation with Legendary Olympic Track and Field Champion Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Jackie Joyner-Kersee is one of the greatest female athletes to grace the planet.

Need proof? 

Her Olympic record alone sets a standard that others have been trying to match for the past 20 years: three gold medals, one silver medal and two bronze medals across four Olympic Games (1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996) and a heptathlon score of 7,291 points in Seoul that has yet to be matched. 

She was also a four-time gold medalist at the World Championships and a star basketball player at UCLA.

In this conversation, Joyner-Kersee talks extensively about how self-discipline, rooted in her deeply held Christian faith, served as the foundations for elite competitive success,

Bonham: It takes a lot of self-discipline to be an elite athlete, but who modeled that concept for you when you were growing up in East Saint Louis?

Jackie Joyner-Kersee: It was my mom. My family modeled it, but my mom was a strong believer in being a disciplinarian. She would tell me that in order for me to do anything, there were certain things I had to accomplish first. If I wanted to go to the community center or if I wanted to go to the track, first I had to make sure my homework was done. Then I had to make sure my room was cleaned up. If everything was right in her eyes, then I was able to go play.

I saw my mom work hard day in and day out. She got up early in the morning to get ready for work, catch the bus and make sure she got to her job on time. She always told us she’d be home at 3:30 and she was always home at 3:30. She made sure there was food on the table so we could eat. That was a living example of example and doing the small things.

Bonham: How did you see discipline play out in your youth and throughout your athletic career?

Joyner-Kersee: As a student, discipline helped me get to school on time. School started at 8 o’clock, but I would get there at 7:30. That discipline overlapped into what I was doing athletically. If you have an event scheduled for a certain time and you’re a minute late, then you are disqualified. If I was working a job and I was supposed to be there at 9 o’clock, I wouldn’t just show up at nine. I’d get there before nine. All of this has helped me understand the importance of discipline.

Discipline is also about respecting other people’s time. My mom was a strong believer in that. My coaches would usually pick me up and she didn’t want them waiting for me. If they were going to be there at a certain time, it was not their responsibility to come to my door to see if I was ready. No, I was supposed to be ready to go before they got there. That’s showing respect for them. Discipline has played a major role across the board in my life. 

Bonham: What did you have to do in order stay disciplined as an Olympic caliber athlete?

Joyner-Kersee: I had a routine every day. I was at the track at 7:30 in the morning doing my warm ups before (coach and now husband) Bobby (Kersee) would get there. One of the things that Bobby would request of us is that we do our warm ups so that when he showed up, we would be ready to go. That helped me get prepared for competitions where you have to be warmed up and ready to go before the race. I had to train for seven to eight hours a day. It was tough to do, but I had to discipline myself to go through that because it was the same thing I would have to do when I competed. It’s like going to school. You read, you study and then you have the exam.

Sunday was always our spiritual day. We didn’t train on Sundays. I always made sure I was going to church and that those things were a part of my lifestyle. 

Bonham: What are the benefits of discipline?

Joyner-Kersee: Time management is one of the great benefits of discipline. It helped me a lot when I got to college. That’s where you really need time management. I had to get to class on time and schedule my day. That was crucial. 

Bonham: How did you make sure you stayed disciplined?

Joyner-Kersee: It’s a mindset. It has a lot to do with goal setting. Goals were and still are a part of my life. When you have goals, you know that there are certain things you can and cannot do. That’s where the discipline comes in. I knew that a lifestyle of partying and going out wasn’t something I didn’t want to do. I knew it would distract me and get me off the course of what I wanted to do.

Bonham: What were some challenges you faced as an athlete?

Joyner-Kersee: With me being an asthmatic, my discipline was really tested. I always had to make sure I took my medicine on a regular basis. I had to respect the disease. I couldn’t live in denial. I was considered to be this great athlete and I didn’t want to believe that I had asthma. But there were times I was extremely sick and I wouldn’t take my medicine so I had to discipline myself to take my medicine and do the things I had to do to keep my asthma under control.

Discipline became a big part of my survival. You know that you’re a world class athlete but then you get out on the track and can’t even run a mile or even a lap. Then you start questioning. You start doubting. Talk about having faith. Then I realized I had to start treating asthma the way I treated my training. Asthma became one of my opponents. I’m trying to beat it and these are the things I have to do on a daily basis. I look at my pulmonologist as my friend and not my enemy. I started using him as a coach. He and the nurses were trying to help me. That was the mindset. Then I started keeping a journal. I would write down the days I was feeling great. If they’d just cut the grass at the track, that was a red flag. I knew that would be a problem. If I had a bad day, I’d write it down and begin to question why I had a bad day.

I did a lot of visualization. This is easy to say and difficult to do. You have to weed out toxic people in your life. They might be the coolest person. They might be your best friend. But emotionally, if you’re on a roller coaster all the time, it’s not really a good situation. That’s tough but that’s where the discipline comes in and you start realizing that you’ve got to figure out a way to get out of that relationship. You have to learn how to say no and sometimes that’s saying no to the people closest to you.

I always try to focus my energy on the things I have control over because if you succumb to the things you have no control over, it zaps your energy and you lose your focus. I’m not trying to control anyone, but it’s making sure I’m controlling my own destiny. 

Bonham: What role has spiritual discipline played in your life?

Joyner-Kersee: I am a firm believer in faith and the discipline to believe that I could travel to California and go to UCLA and go on to make Olympic teams. It took discipline to hold strong and believe in myself and for others to believe in me. That was a test. It took discipline to separate myself from negativity and not to let the drug-infested community suck me in. That took a lot of discipline for a girl growing up in East St. Louis where there was (population) people and to go onto a place where millions lived and to go out there and know that I was going with a dream in mind. It took discipline to not fall victim to the things that might pull me away from that dream. 

Bonham: How can leaders be more disciplined?

Joyner-Kersee: When I was younger, I told myself all I wanted to do was to improve a tenth of a second or a half of an inch if I was running or jumping. If I made a C, how could I take that C and turn it into a B. The steps are realistic goals and small steps to get there. In some cases, you might go leaps and bounds, but I think it’s so important to take the small steps and appreciate those small steps while you’re struggling so that when things start to get a little easier for you, you won’t forget the discipline it took for you to get there. 

Bonham: How has the Bible inspired you to a life of discipline?

Joyner-Kersee: In sports and throughout my life, there have been so many challenges. You think about the patience of Job. I lost my mom when I was a freshman in college. I dealt with being an asthmatic. I had the dream of going to the Olympics. People would tell me I had to be patient. I had to wait. Not that I can compare myself to Job, but there’s the understanding of that kind of patience and discipline. At nighttime when I went to bed, I wouldn’t pray for patience because I realized I was already living through it. I was being taught to be patient. When the opportunity presented itself, I would be ready. I was thankful for the things I had gone through so that one day I could share with others and help them. 

Bonham: How does the concept of purpose fit into your outlook on life?

Joyner-Kersee: I truly believe that God gives us things that we can handle. If we don’t handle things properly, it will be slowly taken away. I don’t know quite yet what my purpose is, but I know that God is using me as a tool in the way He thinks I should be used, not what I think my purpose is. That purpose is still being defined. So that’s why I live each day with the understanding, I don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring. Mom would always say, "Jackie, don’t tell me about tomorrow. Take care of today."

Taking care of today means staying disciplined. If you’re worried about tomorrow, you’ll get off track from the purpose that God has before you. That’s where the mental and emotional discipline comes into place. I’m not going to let one over take the other. You have to understand that you have a purpose and you can’t take your existence for granted.

Bonham: How has your faith helped you deal with tragedy in your life such as losing your mother and your sister-in-law and fellow Olympic champion Florence Griffith-Joyner?

Joyner-Kersee: That’s where your faith comes in and your belief in God and not losing sight of what my mom would have wanted for me or even Florence. We have to be strong for one another. Even in dealing with the loss of a mother or a sister-in-law, having a brother, having sisters, there’s strength. It’s so important because when I’m strong, I’m giving them strength too. We all feed off one another.

Check out Chad Bonham’s book Glory of the Games featuring Olympic athletes such as Shannon Miller, Dave Johnson, Josh Davis, Tamika Catchings, Ruth Riley, Michael Chang, and Tobin Heath.

  

Lead photo courtesy of Erik van Leeuwen.

A Conversation with NBC Sports Analyst and Olympic Champion Diver Laura Wilkinson

Laura Wilkinson is one of the most decorated American divers in the history of international competition. She set a high standard as the only female diver to win 10-meter platform gold at the World Championships (2005), World Cup (2004), Olympic Games (2000) and Goodwill Games (1998). 

Now retired and enjoying life as a wife and mother, Wilkinson finds herself back in the spotlight as a broadcast analyst including a stint covering the Olympic Games in Rio for NBC Sports. In this conversation, she talks about how she got into diving, what led her to pursue a relationship with Christ, and what it means to be an Olympic champion:

Chad Bonham: How did you get involved in diving?

Laura Wilkinson: I was seven years old when I got into gymnastics. I got to a point where I realized that I wasn’t going to be the next Mary Lou Retton and I just felt like I needed to find something that I could be great at because I just felt like I was supposed to be good at something. At the end of my freshman year in high school I discovered diving. My previous experience in gymnastics helped me make a quick transition.

Bonham: Tell me about your faith journey? 

Wilkinson: I became a Christian at a very young age. I was eight years old and it just made sense. I was like, “Why wouldn’t people do this?” I totally got it and I was really excited about God. Then I entered my freshman year of high school and I switched churches. I started going to a youth group with one of my friends and I started to see that some of the kids would be one way at church and then we’d go to McDonald’s or something like that after church and they would be totally different. I just felt really uncomfortable and I didn’t know how to handle it so I just stopped going which is the complete opposite of what I should have done. At that point, I got confused and so I walked away from it, but then I ended up becoming just like them. I wasn’t living for God and I was trying to take things into my own control. My sophomore year in college, I realized that me being in control of my life just made a mess of things. I knew that I needed God back. I didn’t hit rock bottom but it felt like it and so I totally recommitted my life and it’s just been different ever since.”

Bonham: You’ve listed your parents as some of the most influential people in your life. How have they inspired you?

Wilkinson: My parents are great examples of integrity. They’re just awesome. They’re just so concerned about the people around them. They’re very loving. They’re still together. They’re just really good living examples. They just live it out. They don’t have to tell you what to do. They just do it and that’s taught me that the best example that you can be is to just be it. Instead of telling somebody, you should just live it out.”

Bonham: You’re journey to the 2000 Summer Olympics was pretty rocky. Can you describe the circumstances that made getting to Sydney (and then winning the gold medal) so special?

Wilkinson: I came home from school that year and left my scholarship behind. I was training full-on for the Olympics. I knew it might be my one and only chance. I was going to give it all I had and then I broke my foot three months before trials. It was this big let down for about a week and then I realized how bad I wanted to be back in the water. Before that, my dream was getting fuzzy and out of focus but the injury helped refocus me towards accomplishing my goals. From then, I just kind of made up mind that I was going for it and I wasn’t going to look back. I just knew that God had given me this dream, so I had to do it.

So for the next few weeks, I would hop up the ladder to the 10-meter platform and sit on the edge in my street clothes visualizing my dives and doing the arm motions. I watched tons of video with my coach and just focused on the mental side of diving.

I’m not sure what was more special – winning the Olympic trials or winning the Olympics. Both of those were so monumental because when I won trials, I had only been back in the water for three weeks. That’s unreal not to mention the fact that I won the trials by 40 points.

Bonham: How did you deal with the disappointment of finishing fifth at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens?

Wilkinson: It was definitely disappointing because I had won before, but I know well enough that getting fifth place in the Olympics is really good. I understand that. So I did appreciate it because of what I did in my training. I was little behind going into it because I’d had a foot surgery earlier that year and I was finishing school. I really didn’t know my dives as well as I should have. So yeah, it was disappointing but at the same time my mission going in was to glorify God first and win a medal second. I didn’t win a medal but I did glorify God. I thanked Him in an interview. I don’t think it ever aired but that was the first thing out of my mouth. My whole attitude about it isn’t what people expect. They always expect me to be all ticked off, but it was great. I loved Greece. It was a fantastic Olympics.

Bonham: What was your inspiration for taking that third and final shot at the Olympic Games in Beijing?

Wilkinson: Not medaling in Athens actually turned into fuel for a new passion for the sport again. I had to go through wrist surgery after that and I thought maybe I’d just do one more year and I ended up winning the world championships for the first time and I started learning new dives. I mean, you don’t start learning new dives when you’re about to retire. I could just tell that I really wanted to keep doing this. Sometimes it was tough because most of my friends were settling down and having kids. I didn’t always know if I want to be doing this, but then God would just remind me, “Oh no, this is what you’re meant to do. This is what you love. I have you here because this is I made you for.”

Pick up Chad Bonham's book Glory of the Games (featuring 17 Olympic athletes such as Laura Wilkinson, Shannon Miller, Kevin Durant, Tobin Heath, Josh Davis, Dave Johnson, Tamika Catchings, Ruth Riley, etc.) by clicking HERE.

A Conversation with U.S. Olympic Soccer Player Tobin Heath

Four years ago, Tobin Heath was the young kid on a team full of veteran stars. But as a member of the 2012 Olympic gold medal and 2015 World Cup championship teams, she’s become a full-fledged star in her own right. Well-liked among her peers and highly respected by the rabid U.S. Women’s National Team fans, Heath appears to have many years of top-shelf performance in her future. Yet what’s most important to the starting midfielder is her bedrock faith in Jesus Christ and her desire to share God’s love with others.

In this conversation, Heath talks about her faith journey, how that faith helps her deal with the craziness of international soccer competition, and how she hopes to have a positive influence on the next generation of female athletes:

Chad Bonham: Can you share a little bit about your Christian faith journey?


Tobin Heath: I was fortunate enough to grow up in a Christian home and an awesome family. Our family was just really passionate about Jesus. I had a great experience growing up. Like many kids, I wanted to do my own thing so it wasn’t until around the end of high school and start of college that I started to develop my own faith. I stopped piggy backing off of my family’s (faith) and wanted to figure out what it was all about. I got super interested in things and obviously from there it’s just grown. Like anyone who has a relationship (with Jesus) knows, the coolest thing about it is that it’s infinite how much you can learn and begin to understand. It’s something that grabbed me.

Bonham: Do you feel like your reason for being successful as an athlete is bigger than soccer?

Heath: Absolutely. My platform might be a little bigger than someone else’s, but everyone has a purpose. For me, that purpose in my life right now is soccer. There’s a cool, personal testimony that goes along with it. You spend so much time with your teammates in environments where they see how you live. It’s one of the coolest ways to just love people. Obviously in the world of sports, you go through different ups and downs than in normal life. You might be on top of the world playing or you’re sidelined with an injury. Your teammates see you through the good and the bad. They see where your foundation lies in those moments. You can also be there for them to share the love of Christ to them through those times when they’re in need and desperate for some truth in their lives.

Bonham: How does your faith help you deal with the highs and lows of elite international competition?
 

Heath: I can’t even imagine going through life without my relationship with Jesus. So much of it is me relying on Him and me needing Him, not just in those crazy circumstances but in the day-to-day activities. During that time at the World Cup, it was a rollercoaster ride, but it was neat to just see His hand on that. It’s more than just winning or losing. There are so many relationships that go deeper than that. He has a plan in it all. You have to trust that. Even though it’s not the ideal outcome—I mean, everybody wants to be winners—you have to trust that God has a greater plan for this even when you can’t see it.

Bonham: What’s the key principle that helps you stay emotionally and spiritually even-keeled?

Heath: Know your place. I know it kind of sounds a little backwards, but I just really think of God as being so incredible. The depth of who He is and His character is unfathomable and the fact that we can know Him just a little bit is so cool. He knows us inside and out. It’s remarkable in many ways. When I try to think about Him, I’m just in awe. That humbles me in any situation. When I need strength in hard times, I know I have a God that can move mountains. Or if I’m going through a time of success, I can just rejoice in the Lord and give glory to Him knowing that He’s given me the gifts to be able to accomplish what I have. Everything comes back to Him.

Bonham: How much of your platform is used to encouraging young female athletes?

 
Heath: As the popularity of women’s soccer continues to grow, we just want to give that back to the sport and continue to inspire young girls to have something they can dream about, that they can be professional athletes. It’s possible for them. So we want to continue making those dreams possible while we’re living our dreams at the same time. It’s really neat when you become a role model. It’s also a lot of responsibility. But if you see it as a platform where you can pour into others for Jesus with love, that’s where I want to be. Becoming known or noticed in my sport isn’t what drives me to work hard and want to be the best I can be. It’s Jesus. That’s why I play. I play to glorify Him. I worship Him with the gifts I’ve been given. Through that, I just hope He can be glorified. I try to keep that as my motivation when I step out on the field every day whether it’s practice or a game. It’s to work as hard as I can in thankfulness for what He’s given me and hopefully some of that can come back to Him.

Bonham: How do you navigate that fine line between thanking God for the gifts as opposed to thanking God for the success?

Heath: It’s not about that worldly outcome in terms of winning or losing. It’s about Him being known and not in a way that forces it upon other people but in a way that lets people know how He’s transformed my life and how He’s given me purpose and meaning and love and satisfaction. That’s the message of Jesus. It’s not a platform to impose on people. It’s a platform to love people. Our God’s going to be victorious. He’s the Creator of the universe. I’m just a vessel trying to do my part with what I’ve been given.

Bonham: What do you cherish most about your Olympic experiences?

Heath: The Olympics is a very special event because you get to represent your country along with all the other sports. One of my favorite things about soccer is how the art and the passion of the game somehow unites people and nations and classes and races. That’s something that comes out of the game and how it’s displayed and why people enjoy watching it and supporting it. Anytime you have an event like the Olympics or the World Cup, people get to enjoy it on such a huge scale. Obviously we’re looking forward to getting past this last World Cup and we’re really excited in our preparation to win gold in London. I think that’s the focus now. We have the team to do it.

Bonham: Is standing on the podium as an Olympic gold medalist something you can describe?

Heath: I don’t think it’s something you can put into words. I don’t think it should be. The feeling that I was most shocked about was just seeing your country’s flag being raised. I was shocked by how moved I was by that. I’m usually a pretty mellow person, but when that happened, I thought that was pretty cool.

Pick up Chad's book Glory of the Games to read about more inspirational stories from Olympic athletes past and present such as Kevin Durant, Josh Davis, Shannon Miller, Michael Chang, Ruth Riley, Tamika Catchings, Chris Byrd, and many more, by clicking HERE.

Photos courtesy of U.S. Olympic Team and Sky Blue FC.

A Conversation with U.S. Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Coach and Former Olympic Champion Brandon Slay

At the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Brandon Slay reached the pinnacle of his sport with a golden performance. But it was just a year earlier when the freestyle wrestler had to come to grips with a harsh reality—he was a phony Christian. So when that medal was placed around his neck, Slay was better prepared to handle the glory that was coming his way and life’s ups and downs that were certain to follow.

Now the Assistant National Freestyle Coach and National Freestyle Resident Coach for USA wrestling, Slay is working with the next generation of Americans. In this conversation, he talks about his humble beginnings in the sport, how he became a Christian, and how his wrestling career has brought him closer to God:

Chad Bonham: Tell me about your interesting introduction to wrestling and your early struggles with the sport.

Brandon Slay: I was born and raised in Amarillo, Texas. My dad was a wrestler at the University of Alabama. He started taking me to the YMCA when I was six years old. That’s when I started wrestling competitively. That first year, I went 0 for 20. I got pinned almost every single time and I cried every single time. My second year, I had seven wins and 15 losses. My third year, I finally broke even. At the end of my third year and going into my fourth year, that’s when I started tasting success and getting my hand raised on a more frequent basis. That’s when I started to fall in love with the sport.

Bonham: How did you become a Christian?

Slay: My mom and dad got a divorce when I was three. I had to move in with my grandmother when I was five until I was about 13. My grandmother was a Baptist Sunday School teacher. We went to church Wednesday nights, Sunday mornings and Sunday nights. She got me enrolled into a Christian school. I went to a Christian school from kindergarten through sixth grade. I had that Christian upbringing from church to school to being at home with my grandmother.

In high school, I got addicted to myself and to success on the football field and on the wrestling mat. Sports became my god. I believed in God. I believed that Jesus died on the cross, but I didn’t have that genuine relationship with the Savior. I wrestled at Penn in Philadelphia. I was living a rebellious lifestyle. I wasn’t taking a stand for God. He wasn’t the most important thing in my life. Success was. Being a world champion was.

I finished second at the NCAA tournament twice and then moved to Colorado Springs to train for national team. God used that time to work on my heart. I went from living in West Philadelphia and a busy lifestyle to Colorado. That really slowed my life down. When I opened my blinds of my window every morning, I was facing Pike’s Peak. That’s where God wooed my heart. I knew in my heart that God created that. When you start thinking about Creation, you start thinking about how you’re living compared to God’s truth. It was about 1999 when I realized that I was a phony. I wasn’t living what I said I believed.

Before I had my Matthew 10:39 moment, my all-in surrender, it took me doing some soul searching. I researched other religions. If I was going to go down that path of seeking after God, I wanted to know what other religions believed. After doing that for a few months, that’s when God impressed upon my heart that Christianity was the only religion that had a Savior. All I’d been trying to do was save myself. But we needed someone to die for our sin and our rebellion. We needed someone to pay for that wage of sin. At that point, it didn’t just make heart sense. It made logical sense to me. It was more than just believing what my grandmother believed.

Bonham: What is a significant spiritual lesson that God has taught you throughout your career?

Slay: A local pastor in Colorado Springs sat down with me one morning and asked me, “What do you think your purpose is?” This was before I had surrendered my life to Christ. I told him, “My purpose is to work out, lift weights, wrestle hard, go win a gold medal, retire from wrestling, get married and have some kids, work until I’m 60, retire from work, go fishing with my buddies and then I’ll go die.

He didn’t argue with me. He just walked off and encouraged me to chew on that. I was so mad. That couldn’t be my purpose. There had to be something greater than that. At the same time, God was stirring my heart. Now I understand that my purpose is to know the Savior and to make Him known. In doing so, you can wrestle. You can get married. You can have kids. You can work until retirement. You can go fishing with your buddies. But that’s all about underneath the purpose of knowing the Savior and making Him known.

Bonham: What’s your message for the athletes you train or any other athletes out there trying to fulfill their dreams?

Slay: Reaching your Mt. Everest doesn’t fulfill you. Not reaching it doesn’t destroy you. You may that think that becoming the state champion or the NCAA champion or the Olympic champion is some sort of euphoric moment that’s going to be with you for the rest of the life. But it doesn’t fulfill you. It’s just a thing. It’s just an accomplishment. It’s just a climb to the top. Yes, you can enjoy the view and it’s really pretty when you get up there, but eventually you have to come back down. You can’t stay at the top of Mt. Everest for more than 30 minutes. You’ll end up dying due to oxygen depravation. Eventually you have to humble yourself and you have to come back down. You’ll die up there. Spiritually, you will die.

That’s what happens to a lot of young adults. They buy into the lie that they will be fulfilled by accomplishments. All you have to do is ask anyone who has been to the top and they’ll tell you that it doesn’t fulfill you.

But you still go for it with everything you have. You use he gifts that God has blessed you with to the best of your ability. He’s given you these gifts to glorify Him and to honor Him. You go for it with everything you have. It’s totally okay to go for the gold. But you’re doing it with the understanding that you’re doing it to try to fulfill yourself. You’re doing it to glorify God. If you get there, it’s going to be awesome and you’ll be thankful for it. But if you fall short, you’re still better because of it.

The Holy Spirit through God’s Word and others revealed to me that having that attitude frees you up. I was putting all my eggs in one basket. Winning the gold medal wasn’t my everything. So when I went up on that mat, I was able to give my best and let God take care of the rest.

Pick up Chad's book Glory of the Games, featuring inspiring stories from 17 Olympic athletes (past and present) such as Shannon Miller, Tobin Heath, Laura Wilkinson, Josh Davis, Michael Chang, and Kevin Durant, by clicking HERE.

Photo courtesy of US Olympic Team.

A Conversation with U.S. Freestyle Wrestler Tervel Dlagnev

Tervel Dlagnev was born in Bulgaria during the reign of a crumbling Soviet Union. So in 1990, his parents moved from Eastern Europe to East Texas in an attempt to escape the hard times that were ahead. As a junior in high school, Dlagnev decided to give wrestling a try, and turns out, he was pretty good—so good that he earned a scholarship to Nebraska-Kearney where he won two individual Division II titles and a team title.

Now a naturalized citizen, Dlagnev is competing in his second Summer Olympics for Team USA in the 125kg division. But more importantly is his commitment to putting God first in all areas of his life. In this conversation, he talks about his unique upbringing, how he became a Christian, and how he applies his faith to his wrestling career:

Chad Bonham: Tell me about your upbringing and how that impacted your faith journey.

Tervel Dlagnev: Religion was regulated in Eastern Europe. My dad was an atheist. I think he enjoyed shocking people in the Texas area by saying he didn’t believe in God. As I got older, my parents took a hands-off approach to spirituality. But God used wrestling to reveal Himself to me. Wrestling is such a hard sport and it’s so personal. I started to become introspective and I tried to manage my thoughts and my feelings. I had a lot of fears and doubts. So I started to ask questions about my nature.

One of my high school teammates shared the Gospel with me at a national tournament. I didn’t take it seriously at first but it planted some seeds in my heart. Once I got to college, I was surrounded by good people and some believers who had been following God for a long time. They took me to a lot of Bible studies and that’s when I started to understand the character of God. The Bible revealed to me a lot of the reasons why I was like the way I was. It was after my freshman year when I gave my life to Christ.

Bonham: What’s a biblical principle that has guided you on this Olympic journey?

Dlagnev: God will give you what you need. He’s always there for anything. But when I try to control things or the times I stress out, those are the times when I feel like I’m the least comfortable with my circumstances. But I’m most content when I’m taking time to pray and I’m seeking His face for answers. Christian athletes talk about doing things for the Lord. But for me, God has put that to the test, like when I just fell short in the Olympics in 2008. I had to rely on the fact that He is sovereign.

But He’s also loving and just. Sometimes I compartmentalize God, but there’s the revelation that He is a complete God. What’s happening to me is absolutely in His plan and it’s for my good. It’s going to turn out in the favor of justice. Understanding the fullness of God really comforts me in my circumstances. Athletes are always going to have struggles. Sometimes, their will won’t line up with God’s will. They might get angry or get frustrated and try to control the situation. But when you trust God, you can turn the control over to Him.

Bonham: What message do you hope your story sends to other wrestlers?

Dlagnev: Wrestlers at all levels deal with control. The flesh tugs at us. But don’t forget who God is and understand that if you put it all on yourself, it can get pretty stressful. There are so many links to the chain of wrestling. There are so many bases you can cover and you’ll just burn yourself out and stress yourself out to the point of having performance anxiety. That can cause you to back track in our development.

Work as hard as you can and have fun with the sport and use wisdom to recognize the things you need to get better at technically. All of those things are important, but you always need to have confidence in the fact that the result is ultimately in the hands of God. It will take a huge amount of fear and doubt and anxiety out of you.

You can't sit on the couch and expect to become an Olympic champion. You have to give all that you have and use your talents and abilities. But it’s refreshing to know that everything you have comes from God and He will use it. If you offer it up to Him, He will use it however He wants to use it in a sovereign, good and just way.

Pick up Chad's book Glory of the Games, featuring inspiring stories from 17 Olympic athletes (past and present) such as Shannon Miller, Tobin Heath, Laura Wilkinson, Josh Davis, Michael Chang, and Kevin Durant, by clicking HERE.

 

Photo courtesy of US Olympic Team.