A 16-year-old skateboarder from Brazil recently got a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics and shared her Christian faith with the world afterward.
Rayssa Leal used her platform of competing on the world stage to share God’s love with the world. After she placed third and won a bronze medal in the women’s street skateboarding final on Sunday, she used ASL to sign the Bible verse John 14:6. The verse says, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'”
Leal was allegedly told she couldn’t outwardly praise God during the Olympics, but instead of saying a thing, she signed her faith.
According to sources, French athletes competing in the Olympics are not allowed to display religious symbols, because of the country’s secularism principle.
“For the Olympic Village, the IOC rules apply,” an International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesperson told Reuters. “There are no restrictions on wearing the hijab or any other religious or cultural attire.”
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🇧🇷Brazilian Olympian Rayssa Leal, a devout Christian, uses sign language at the Paris Olympics to show her love of JESUS.
“Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.”
The 16 year old won bronze in women’s street skateboarding today at the Paris Olympics. pic.twitter.com/nLgIgX0IDe
— Gabriela Iglesias🇺🇲 (@iglesias_gabby) July 28, 2024
Leal has been skateboarding for most of her life. She became Brazil’s youngest Olympian when at just 13 years old she took the silver medal home in the skateboarding street competition.
“When I was very young, I dreamed of becoming a skateboard athlete,” Leal told reporters at CNN. “And here I am, with a second Olympic medal from the games. Once again, thank God I won a medal. I’m very happy to be here.”
On her Instagram, Leal posted her excitement of winning, while praising God. “On top of the world. All honour and glory be to God.”
This article was originally published at CHVN Radio.
Sylvia St. Cyr is an on-air radio host at CHVN, a Christian outlet in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
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4 Responses
My family and I really enjoyed watching this skateboarding competition! We were all struck with Leal’s poise.
Praise God. I am so thankful to our Christian Founding Fathers here in the USA for including the very first sentence of the very first enumerated right in the Bill of Rights in the US Constitution: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, OR PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF. Many secular politicians ignore that last part but it is there, alive and well and protecting our rights to be Christians without government interference.
ASL interpreter here. Her signing, although in English word order, does not look like ASL to me. Perhaps Brazilian Sign Language (known as Libras)? Or French Sign Language (LSF) out of respect to the host country?
Following on from the linked article which mentions the “chaplains” and the “shared hall”, I want to mention “Everlasting Crowns”, the ministry dedicated to encouraging and ministering to athletes run by Australian high jumper Nicola Olyslagers (née McDermott).
I read about her during the last Olympics in Tokyo after I noticed her poise and level-headedness, the exceptional joy she demonstrated before, during and after the competition and the sincere congratulations she offered to other competitors.
Christian athletes are a different level of inspirational!