Chantal Peticlerc. Does the name ring a bell? It should since Chantal just won her fifth gold medal at the Beijing Olympics and her twenty-second over the course of five Olympic games. In Beijing she set three world records despite being just shy of her thirty ninth birthday.She is probably Canada's most successful Olympic athlete ever. Of course these are the other Olympics, the Paralympics. The powerful and beautiful Peticlerc races in a wheelchair and for some reason we don't acknowledge this sort of athletic accomplishment in the same way. The other night we watched the thrilling conclusion of a race during a sportscast and our twenty-one-year-old daughter, Emily, asked why we don't get the same coverage of these games.
It's a good question. What is a greater accomplishment, training to the height of one's abilities as an able-bodied person, or overcoming what many would consider a raw deal in life and excelling? Peticlerc lost the use of her legs in a car accident as a child and at age eighteen finished last in her first wheelchair race. She went on to become the dominant athlete in the world in her discipline and she retires at the top.
Wouldn't it be good if every school child in Canada was reminded of these accomplishments during this week? And as Christ's people we can be inspired to do our best in the circumstances we find ourselves.
In the book of Hebrews in the New Testament we find this encouragement to follow Christ:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverence the race that is set before us..." Hebrews 12:1
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