While there was some success for Team GB’s curlers in the recent Winter Olympics in China, former skeleton athlete Adam Pengilly, a hugely experienced Olympian who is also a follower of Jesus, has been reflecting on how close he came to a medal in 2006.
Pengilly has had an unusual career, competing for five years in the bobsleigh before turning to coaching, then competing in the skeleton at Turin in 2006 and Vancouver in 2010, after which his peers voted him on to the International Olympic Committee Athlete’s Commission.
It looked like his chance for a medal had come in Turin when he was sitting in fourth place. A good run could get him onto the podium, but errors on one corner on his second run cost him his medal hopes.
As Brian Glynn writes for Premier Christianity:
“Finishing in eighth that day was actually a huge result for a relative newcomer. But for Adam it was bitterly disappointing.
‘It took me about three months to get over the pain,’ he remembers. ‘My head was in the wrong place, I’d been worshiping sport too much. My performance was too important to me.’
‘An Olympics only comes round every four years. You only get one or maybe two opportunities - to win a medal, and I was unable to take my chance. Too much of my identity was wrapped up in succeeding in that race.’
“As Adam spent time with other Christians, reflecting on his disappointment and wrestling with it, he was reminded that first and foremost he was saved by grace alone and God had given him the gift to be an athlete. Adam’s crushing disappointment hadn’t removed his desire to compete, but God had used it to shift his perspective. He was reminded that God was calling him to be the best athlete he could be, not to gain success for himself, but as worship to God – to honour God’s gift to him.
“Adam set his sights on a second Olympics in 2010, with four years to get into the best shape of his life. He won the bronze medal at the 2008 European Championships, following this up with Silver at the 2009 World Championships, a huge step towards that coveted Olympic medal, just one year away.
“Adam trained well through the off season in the build up to Vancouver, getting stronger and faster, setting personal bests in training. Just days before the first Olympic qualifying event he was doing some plyometric training, when suddenly he felt his knee pop. He’d sustained a serious injury just months before the Games, even qualification was now in doubt. Adam made the Olympic start line, albeit not in the shape he’d hoped for after four years of hard work and success. He finished a disappointing 18th.
“Four years of progression only to finish ten places further down the results sheet.
“But Adam sees it differently.
‘I was in a really different place. Success at the World Championships had helped me realise something. I felt amazing to be a World Championship medallist for maybe two or three hours, and then it was just like, life again – normal. It was a recognition in my head that even if I’d won, I’d just want to win again. Achievement and success don’t provide lasting satisfaction.’
“He was satisfied that God’s love for him was just as guaranteed when he won silver in 2009 as it was crossing the line in eighteenth a year later.
‘I was disappointed for sure with my result at the Olympics, but I knew the Lord had a different plan, and his love for me doesn’t depend on how I perform.’