What do think is the greatest Olympic moment of all time and why? What about at this Olympics or sport in general? Come and join our discussion of some of the most inspiring moments sport has ever witnessed...  | more...|

Following in the wake of the recent Olympic Games, the Paralympic Games opened amid much fanfare in London this week. Here are some of the stories coming out of the Games...

RECORDS ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN

One of the top competitors at the Paralympics, American swimmer Jessica Long has already won five gold medals and two silvers here in London. And with two more finals to come, she's not finished yet.

     Born in Russia and adopted by an American family at 13 months old, Jessica's lower legs were amputated when she was just a year and a half old due to a bone deficiency in her feet and legs. But she hasn't let that slow her down...
     RICH CLINE, of 2K Plus International Sports Media, reports...  | more...|

ONE OF THE BIGGEST ATHLETES

One of the more inspiring stories to emerge from the Paralympics is that of Haitian cyclist Gaysli Leon, who sustained spinal cord injures during the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake, which took the lives of his wife and eight children.

     Leon was a late entry to the Games, and was overwhelmed by the reception he got from the fans at his Paralympic race along the road in Brands Hatch on Wednesday.

     RICH CLINE, of 2K Plus International Sports Media, reports...  | more...|

THE 'MAKE A DIFFERENCE' FESTIVAL

Just a few miles from the Olympic Park, in the shadow of the Olympic stadium, a collection of churches gathered together to put on the Make a Difference festival. The festival, known as MAD, involved theatre performances, workshops and exhibitions in several different venues - all of which were aimed at engaging the community in this Olympic borough.
     PHOEBE THOMPSON, of 2K Plus International Sports Media, reports...  | more...|

SWIM YOUR OWN RACE

One of the stars of the 2012 Paralympics is South African swimmer Natalie du Toit, 28, who has already won gold here in London in the women's S9 100-meter butterfly. This was her 11th Paralympic gold, and she still has several events to come.

     Du Toit also won this event at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, and after the race said, "I think I am just relieved, really. It's the last time I'll swim the 100-meter butterfly, so that's the third race and three golds!"
     RICH CLINE, of 2K Plus International Sports Media, reports...  | more...|

GOALBALL RUNS IN THE FAMILY

In the opening matches of the Paralympic goalball competition here in London, both of Britain's teams lost to the world champions: Lithuania won the men's opening match and China won the women's match. But both British teams managed to score against their opponents - with the goals credited to Michael Sharkey and his sister Anna Sharkey.
     RICH CLINE, of 2K Plus International Sports Media, reports...  | more...|

FAITH WALKS ACROSS LONDON

Standing on Oxford Street in London, it can feel like you are in the busiest place on earth. Thousands of visitors and Londoners flock to this area every day, as it boasts one of every kind of shop imaginable. Only moments away from all of this action, tucked away in side streets, are pockets of calm and tranquillity – in the form of historic churches. Since the start of the Olympics, many of these churches have been open to the public as part of the Diocese of London’s ‘Faith Walks’, hoping to offer peace and quiet for anyone who needs it.
     PHOEBE THOMPSON, of 2K Plus International Sports Media, reports...  | more...|

As London celebrated the end of the Olympic Games, Australian Marty Woods was already thinking about its legacy.

     Mr Woods, the European coordinator of Fusion – an Australian-founded youth and community organisation - for the past nine-and-a-half years, has been leading the festivals team of More than Gold, the umbrella organisation resourcing churches for outreach during the Games.  

     While the rest of his team was out watching the marathon last Sunday – the last day of Games – the 56-year-old was planning a ‘legacy tour’ which involved reconnecting with people in nine regional areas of the UK who’d been involved in running festivals during the Games but were now looking at the next steps of connecting with their communities.

     “We’ve never seen such a strong response from the churches,” says Mr Woods of the response from Christians before and during the Olympic Games. “(T)he level of churches wanting to use the Games for outreach has far exceeded everyone’s expectations… I just want to celebrate the way the church has taken hold of the moment - they’ve really embraced it.”

      DAVID ADAMS reports...   | more...|

London Mayor Boris Johnson has every reason to boast. The 2012 London Olympic Games has seen Team GB climb up the medals chart to the joy of crowds filling stadiums and streets, waving Union Jack flags.
      Mr Johnson says that the city’s transport system that underwent a £5.6million upgrade has also coped well with the record number of passengers travelling to different events and that the Games have passed without any major eventuality.

     Now the London mayor is keen to pass on his pearls of wisdom to his Brazilian counterpart Eduardo Paes, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, whose country received the Olympic flag at the closing ceremony. Rio is to host the FIFA World Cup in two years and the Olympic Games in 2016.

      LIZZY MILLAR, of 2K International Sports Media, reflects on the legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games...    | more...|

As the London 2012 Olympic Games drew to a close, More Than Gold, a Christian outreach organisation that seeks to enable local churches to engage with big sporting events in host cities around the world hosted the inaugural Legacy Award breakfast in honour of Eric Liddell.

     The Eric Liddell Award honours one male and one female Olympian who display outstanding character at home, in their community and on the field of competition. The award is given in memory of Eric Liddell, winner of the gold and bronze medals for Great Britain at the 1924 Paris Olympics. Liddell is best known for the portrayal of his Olympic experience in the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire.

     The male recipient of the award was the 2008 Olympic decathlon gold medallist from the US, Bryan Clay.

      SOLOMON IZANG ASHOMS and LIZZY MILLAR, of 2K International Sports Media, report...   | more...|

A Nigerian athlete competing in the Olympics for the first time has revealed the importance of her Christian faith - both in the good times and bad.

     Stanford University-graduate Idara Otu, running in the women’s 4x400 relay which begins on Thursday, was born in the US and only visited her native Nigeria for the first time earlier this year. There she experienced the high of qualifying for the Olympics, and believes God has been instrumental in bringing her to this stage.
    "God is the author and finisher of everything I do," she told 2K Plus International Sports Media outside Olympic Park in London. "My faith is very important to me. It’s been the rock of my training, the rock of my life.

     "Especially this year, God has really shown me what He can do with my talent. He’s opened a lot of doors for me that wouldn’t have been open without his help."

     PAUL HOBSON, of 2K International Sports Media, reports...   | more...|

Some 300 volunteer 'Games Pastors' have spent the past week helping travellers at major Olympic transport hubs in London in what is a first for an Olympic Games.

     The initiative, which has been supported by various church denominations and will now form a blueprint for future global sporting events, is being organised by More than Gold, an umbrella organisation resourcing churches with outreach materials and support during the Games.

     The Games Pastors, who wear a powder blue uniform, are based in London, Luton, Newcastle and Coventry during the Olympics. While most of them usually live in the UK, some have come from as far afield as Cyprus, Germany and the US.

     Mike Freeman, a former police training officer and now operations manager of the Games Pastors Team, says the job of the pastors is to offer support to travellers.

     DAVID ADAMS reports...   | more...|

Turning professional has actually deepened the Christian faith of an up and coming South African cyclist.

     Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, 26, revealed that her relationship with God has improved in an environment that is more “selfish and self-centred” than Christian.

     Like any aspiring female cyclist in South Africa, Ms Moolman-Pasio had to move to Europe to be able to compete with the world’s best. But her battle to establish herself was hampered by breaking her collar-bone three times in 12 months in 2009-10.

     However, she kept going and was rewarded with a creditable 16th in the women’s road race on Sunday.

     She said her faith has enabled her to get through these tough times. "Taking my cycling more seriously has actually strengthened my faith," she said. "I’ve really relied on my faith to keep me going, especially in tough times, like breaking my collar-bone three times. If I didn’t have faith in God I think I would have given up. It’s just about having the patience and trusting in Him."

    PAUL HOBSON, of 2K Plus International Sport Media, talks to South African cyclist Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio about her faith...  | more...|

For a small inner city church with limited resources Victoria Park Baptist in Bow is having a busy Olympics.

     Not only has it opened a café with free wi-fi, run a children's holiday club, provided large screen coverage of the opening ceremony (which saw more than 100 people pack out the church) and created both a quiet space and a prayer room, it is also reaching out to people using the Victoria Park Live Site at the end of its road. And that's not to mention a couple of sports clinics and live performances planned for next week.

     Several members of the congregation have taken their annual leave to support these activities, but the key is the partnerships it has been able to build.

     "We are a small church. We could not do what we are doing if not for the support of Youth With a Mission (YWAM), local churches, and the funding of the London Baptist Association," said Geoff Thorington-Hassell, who belongs to the church.

    PAUL HOBSON, of 2K Plus International Sport Media, reports on how one London church is engaging with the Games...  | more...|

There are probably few things that stir the human soul like the story of a winner against seemingly insurmountable odds.

     During the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, I watched a spectacle on TV that I think will stay with me for the rest of my days.

     All the able-bodied – or perhaps we should just say, less-physically-challenged – competitors had gone home. The hype and hoopla were dying down and a smaller but still enthusiastic crowd had remained to watch the competition between physically challenged athletes from around the world.

     I watched in amazement as one young Chinese man, probably no more than a teenager, surged quite early to the front of the field. He stretched his lead lap-by-lap until he was entire body-lengths ahead of his nearest rival.

Writing from London, MAL FLETCHER looks at what the Games are really all about - the role people, whether a Paralympic swimmer from China or British runner Eric Liddell, can play in inspiring us all...  | more...|

In a BBC radio broadcast Friday, Anglican canon Duncan Green called on people everywhere in the world to live together in peace and harmony, in the spirit of the Olympic Games.

     "I was very moved last week when the Christian chaplains on the team helped their Muslim colleagues prepare a large hall for the Friday prayers of Ramadan. A young Muslim man hugged me for providing such a facility. This week, I've witnessed young men and women from all over the world living side by side, greeting one another, making new friends, laughing, and sharing their love of sport. I pray that the world will watch and learn to live in harmony."

     The Religious Services Centre at the Olympic Village will be run by 50 chaplains working on shift around the clock and catering to the spiritual health needs of athletes from countries where Judaism, Islam, Christianity, and other religions prevail.

    TREVOR GRUNDY reports for ENInews...  | more...|

• Mission volunteers sign "code of conduct" for London Games...  | more...|

• Catholics create Olympic Cross to reach out to those at the Games...  | more...|

• Crowds "far exceeded" expectations at Olympic church events...  | more...|

• Christians urged to pause for prayer as bells ring out to mark Olympic and Paralympic opening...  | more...|

SPORTS BIBLES TO BE GIVEN TO OLYMPIC ATHLETES

Free sports-themed Bibles and Scriptures will be available to athletes in London's Olympic Village under an initiative being spearheaded by the Bible Society.

DAVID ADAMS reports...  | more...|

Along with the host of athletes, coaching staff and officials arriving in London this week for the Olympic Games is another group of people charged with the task of sharing their faith in Jesus Christ with those they encounter there.

     Among them is Nett Knox, a veteran of several Olympic, Paralympics and Commonwealth Games, having attended her first – the Sydney Olympics – in 2000.

     She will be working as one of the official Christian chaplains based at the Olympic Village’s Religious Services Centre along with representatives of other faiths.

     As well as holding Bible studies and church services, Ms Knox - who can more usually be found teaching Religious Education at Knox Grammar School in Sydney - says the chaplains are “available to anybody who wants to come in and have a chat”.

     “Really it’s kind of a ministry of presence to support people in any way we can,” she says.

   With the Opening Ceremony now just around the corner, DAVID ADAMS speaks with some of the Australians who will be sharing their faith at the London Olympics...  | more...|

ON A MISSION IN LONDON

DAVID ADAMS and DAN WOODING, of Assist News Service, take a look at some of the key Christian organisations that will be working in London...  | more...|

Churches in Britain are organising celebrations and activities in the run-up to the London Paralympic Games, which take place after the Olympics, but critics are also wondering whether churches will be inspired to improve their own facilities for the disabled.

     The Paralympics -- sports competitions for athletes with a range of disabilities -- will take place from 29th August to 9th September, two weeks following the Olympics.

     "There is a sharp contrast between the facilities provided for this...event and those available in most churches...We are told that there between 10 and 18 per cent of people are disabled - but we don't see that number in our congregations," said Tim Wood, CEO of Through the Roof, an ecumenical charity which campaigns for the inclusion of disabled people in faith communities.

     In spite of years of campaigning and changes to legislation that in theory require public buildings to have accommodations such as wheelchair ramps and designated parking spaces, more than half the churches in the UK still lack such features.

    JO SIEDLECKA, of ENInews, reports...  | more...|

Walt Disney, world-class dreamer and founder of the fantasy empire that bears his name, once said: "I have been up against tough competition all my life. I wouldn't know how to get along without it."

     In the age of so-called mass collaboration, international sporting endeavour has the potential to remind us that not all competition is unhealthy; that testing one’s mettle against one’s peers can bring out the best in all concerned.

     Nothing has the potential to celebrate the virtues and values of sporting endeavour like the Olympic Games. Yet the modern Olympiad and the organisation that supports it have arguably become little more than a celebration of jingoism and a promoter of market values.

     The virtues that once defined sporting competition at the elite level now seem but a secondary consideration. The success of any modern Olympiad is, at the end of the day, measured in terms of the potential monetary gain for the host nation and for those nations which produce winning competitors - especially in the big sports.

Writing from London - host of this year's Olympic Games, MAL FLETCHER reflects on the relationship between sport and money...  | more...|