What a summer of sport we have witnessed this year! I realise that for some of you reading this, the mere mention of the word sport will be enough to elicit eye rolls and a quick skip to the next article. But please bear with me because whilst many sports fans enjoy the sheer competition of humans competing against each other, what instead sticks to our souls are the stories that enfold of the athletes and the drama around the competition. Without this, then sport is just hollow and rather dull. Scratch the surface though and you find a wealth of lessons that we can take and inspiration that can motivate even the least athletically gifted of us.

As I write this the Paralympics are still going on and incredible stories are being told and legacies unfolding so I will be focusing more on the Olympics for now, but that is not to undermine the efforts or triumphs of these para-athletes.

I’ve always enjoyed the Olympics. The past couple, in Rio and Tokyo both proved more difficult to watch because of the time difference so this was the first one since London 2012 where we’ve had easy access to a huge plethora of sports. You have the more well-established sports like athletics, football and swimming, and then you have handball, water polo and one of my unexpected favourites this year, kite sailing, which saw the UK’s Ellie Aldridge win Gold. There really is something for everyone.

The stories that I gravitate towards are the ones where the athletes have had to overcome adversity to get to where they are now. There is something even sweeter about a victory that is hard earned. Simone Biles was undoubtedly one of the biggest stars of this games. A very successful gymnast, she had the courage to speak openly about her battles with mental health and in so doing opened the door for more young people to feel able to speak about their issues and, crucially, ask for help. Biles would go on to pick up three gold medals in the vault, all-around and team events, and a silver in the floor final. Quite a triumph but one image stands tall. Widely expected to win the individual floor competition, Biles instead finished second. On the podium she and her teammate Jordan Chiles, bowed down and showed their appreciation for the winner, Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade. ‘She’s so amazing. She’s queen,’ Biles said of Andrade in an interview after the event. ‘First, it was an all-Black podium, so that was super exciting for us.’ Chiles had the idea to bow for Andrade, and Biles quickly agreed. ‘She’s such an excitement to watch, and then all the fans in the crowd always cheering for her, so it was just the right thing to do.’

People lifting other people up is what good sportsmanship is all about and is one of the great things that sport can do. One story that you most likely will have missed unfold during Women’s Handball Semi Final between Angola and Brazil (how could anyone have missed that!). Midway through the match Angola’s captain Albertina Kassoma suffered a knee injury. The injury was so bad that she knew her game was over. Albertina tried to stand up to make it to the bench but couldn’t move, despite the attempted help of Angola’s team doctor and Brazil’s goalkeeper, Gabriela Moreschi. In stepped her rival, Brazil’s Tamires Araujo Frossard. Not only rivals in this game but also in the Romanian Handball league where the Brazilian plays for the team Gloria Bistrița and the Angolan Kassoma plays for Rapid București with Kassoma’s side finishing second in the league last season, to Frossard’s side in third. ‘The injury happened close to me’, Frossard said afterwards. ‘I kept playing at first because I didn’t think it was that serious. When I saw her on the ground, I thought she wouldn’t be able to get back up, because it’s very rare that you fall and don’t get up.’ Frossard was able to scoop up Kassoma and carry her off court to loud applause from the 5,800 spectators. Later Frossard would say, ‘there was no way I wouldn’t help her’.

That’s just two stories from a summer that is filled with moments of inspiration that we can all learn from and take courage from. We all have hurdles to overcome, battles to fight and mountains to climb. Sometimes they will feel too big and too difficult to tackle. In these moments, take comfort from the team you have around you. There will always be someone there to cheer you on and carry you when you fall. You are never alone. We have the greatest coach and with God in our corner and the support of those around us, we too can be faster, go higher and be stronger.

Br James Woolford
Minister of Fulneck and Baildon Congregations