After the disappointing Olympics opening fiasco we finally see a light in all the rubbish. Despite the female boxing fuss on gender issues and the Christ image on a surfboard as grounds for disqualification scandal, there are greater and nobler things that arose from the self-besmirched Paris Olympics 2024.

The first Southeast Asian 2024 Olympic gold medal was achieved by a Filipino athlete! Hurray!!! 👏👏👏 But first let's also look back to the greatest Olympic gold milestone of the Philippines!

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The First Olympic Gold Medalist of the Philippines is a Strong Woman!

Yes folks, you read that right. In case you still haven't heard, apparently our country has been trying to get a gold medal since 1924. 😆 That's almost a century of not getting the most coveted top prize in any sport! 😅

Suddenly 2021 came and boom! Wow say hello to Hidilyn Diaz and her "miraculous" win! Well I say it like that because... at the time I just thought she's one extraordinary woman to have done such a feat!

The first Filipino to ever win gold in the Olympics is a woman in a manly sport, oh wow! Truly amazing that she has exceeded everyone's expectations! Perhaps it would have come as a shocking surprise to most Filipinos too. Surely not a lot of us expected this to happen!

It was only a few years later that I realized, ah she has a "secret" that's why she rose to the very top! I didn't really take notice of it before.

^{She wears a Miraculous Medal too! Photo from Hidilyn Diaz’s Instagram story | source}

The Philippines is the first Catholic country in Southeast Asia, thanks to the many Spanish missionaries who brought the religion here mostly from the 16th to the 19th century. So it's no surprise that there are still people who live the faith even to this day! And it's awesome to see the evidence of that in our top athletes just like Manny Pacquiao.

Did you know, back when she was just 17 yrs old and set to compete in the (Beijing) Olympics for the first time she said in a local news interview that she felt called to be God's athlete. In another interview when she experienced depression back in 2014, she says her faith in God was renewed and she started to pray.

Years later after she won the gold medal during the Tokyo Olympics, she didn't fail to thank and give glory to God! During the interviews after receiving the medal, she even said that we must pray to Him too! Now that's the mark of a real champion of the Lord!

Apparently she was also given a Miraculous Medal by a friend. They did a novena before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics competition. Many people prayed for her to win and voila! All her sacrifices and hard work paid off indeed with God's grace. ♥️

Despite Olympic Organizers' Disappointing Disrespect of God This Year, Athletes Give the Spotlight to the Lord!

This international sporting event's motto was coined by a Catholic priest but what did the organizers do this year? There are billions of Christians worldwide and the irreligious decided to mock their God, what do people expect? 😂

Paris is home to the historic Notre Dame cathedral too, duh. France is considered the "eldest daughter of the Church" yet what did it choose to do? Clearly it looks like a prodigal daughter to many instead.

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Despite that, a number of Christian athletes proudly defended and showed off their faith during this Olympics even if the organizers mocked their religion. We the spectators had a lot of things to say online, most of them not good as usual.

With all the hullabaloo, I decided not to bother with anything about it. I used to watch this sporting event on TV when I was a kid but I rarely watched the Olympics as I got older. Even back in 2021 I only watched clips online when Hidilyn Diaz won the first gold medal ever for our country. Oh that was unbelievable!

I only dared check on anything of the Olympics a few days ago after I saw that a Filipino won gold in gymnastics. Then I found out he's religious too. Awesome!

The First Double Gold Olympic Medalist of the Philippines Proudly Gives All the Credit to God!

According to several interviews of him, Carlos Yulo definitely got humbled after his 2020 Tokyo Olympics experience. At one point in his career he almost quit too as he felt isolated while on scholarship in Japan. Aside from the family issues he went through and while studying plus doing intense training abroad, eventually his struggles brought him much closer to God.

^{"(It's) all God, (it's) all God, all Him." - Carlos Yulo, Olympics 2024 | source}

Who would have known that he would express his joy so bravely by crediting God with his Olympics achievements? Wow! The Lord which the Olympics organizers chose to mock is given the glory by a humble champion! Carlos Yulo FTW! 👏

^{Carlos Yulo definitely knows what he's talking about. Only someone in a state of grace understands how God can make the impossible happen. | source}

How To Become a Champion of God like These Two Amazing World Class Athletes?

Of course I am not hardcore in any sports and I'm definitely not an athlete. This is why I can only share half of how to be a champion athlete. Hehe.

If we think about it, all winners always train harder and longer than anybody else. They have discipline, commitment and the drive to reach the top. Of course a community and great support system is important too. So generally speaking that's the first half that anyone must have to succeed.

Now I'll share the basics of what you need to do as the second half to be like these Olympic legends!

1. Build a close relationship with God by following His commandments and always going to mass every Sunday and Holy Days of Obligation.
2. Do not forget to go to confession frequently too!
3. Always pray everyday. (Rosary, angelus/regina coeli, 3 o'clock prayer, novena, attend Holy Hour, etc.)
4. Offer your suffering to the Lord for the sake of others.

If you do all these (and more), the Lord will bless you in unexpected ways. It happened to me when I did those. I also received God's grace and surprisingly got an evidence for it! Evidently it also happened to Carlos Yulo and Hidilyn Diaz for all the world to see because of their own close relationship to the Lord!

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Of course it also happens to other people we don't know who may or may not have posted such online. This means it can happen to you too! How? Start now by visiting God in church or pray at home today.

^{Once you have a regular prayer life, this quote will be easier to understand. | source}

Be like Carlos Yulo, go to mass regularly and pray to God for everything. Be like Hidilyn Diaz too, a Marian devotee. Pray the rosary daily with your family and it will also change your life.

“...giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” - Ephesians 5:20 (NRSVCE)

Have you experienced God's amazing grace in your life as well? What do you think of these exceptional athletes? Feel free to share in the comments!


XOXO,
@artgirl