Several Olympic athletes have recently had their hard-earned medals break!
“Andrea Francisi, the chief games operations officer for the Milan Cortina organizing committee, said it was working on a solution. ‘We are aware of the situation, we have seen the images. We are trying to understand in detail if there is a problem, but we are paying maximum attention to this matter, as the medal is the dream of the athletes, so we want that in the moment they are given it that everything is absolutely perfect, because we really consider it to be the most important moment. So we are working on it.’ ” *
It isn’t the first time the quality of Olympic medals has come under scrutiny.
Following the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, some medals had to be replaced after athletes complained they were starting to tarnish or corrode, giving them a mottled look likened to crocodile skin.
The Race of Life
The Apostle Paul, when writing the Christians in Corinth, Greece (home of the Olympics), refers to these types of games. In fact, the Olympic Games have existed for nearly 2,800 years, originating in Ancient Greece around 776 BCE. While they ran for roughly 1,000 years in antiquity, the modern era of the Olympics began in 1896 in Athens. The ancient games were held every four years in Olympia to honor Zeus.
It’s highly likely that Paul’s readers were not only aware of the games’ existence, but also acutely alert as to who was playing and who was winning.
It’s in this cultural context that Paul writes the following:
“Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9: 24-27, NLT).
The Two Loves
The Apostle John makes this wise distinction about who we are and how we function as humans. He said that we are either going to be all in with God or not at all—there’s no midde-ground!
“Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever” (1 John 2:15-17, NLT).
And the half-brother of Jesus, put it plainly:
“Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God” (James 4:4, NLT).
Choosing the Yum over the Yuck!
So the question for us then is simply: how do we live a life that ensures that we love God versus the world, if we naturally are drawn to the world? How can we live our lives and perceive the things of God as having more worth than the things of the world? Simply speaking, we need to see in God something that has more worth—eternal worth—than anything here on this earth; we need to be more powerfully drawn to God than to the world.
In trying to better illustrate this point for His disciples, about the power of seeking God and His Kingdom, Jesus told these two parables:
“ ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field. ‘Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!’” (Matthew 13:44-46, NLT).
Finishing & Winning The Race
The Apostle Paul, at the end of his life, in writing to a young preacher he was mentoring, named Timothy, using the language of living in a life-long race, and summed up what we all need to be focused on in this life—and it’s not for broken-down Olympic medals:
“I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he comes to set up his Kingdom: Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths. But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you. As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing (1 Timothy 4: 1-8, NLT).
*Downloaded on February 12, 2026 from https://apnews.com/article/winter-olympics-broken-medals-breezy-johnson-liu-bcda5ba297fe0b0da618e38f0f53d93a
