From a friend who is a veteran International Sports Chaplain, David Smethurst:

News from the London 2012 Olympic Games

Sundays are my days off from Olympic duties. One Sunday I had to rush from north of Londonto Tonbridge, Kentto speak at a large Combined Churches Olympic Outreach atTonbridgeCastle. The original speaker had cancelled. So I had the privilege of sharing for 20 minutes with over 300 people in the castle grounds. Many came to speak to me afterwards, saying they had renewed their commitment to Jesus and opened the door to Him for the first time. In all I drove about 350 miles that day. It was well worth it.

One morning as I entered the Olympic Village I noticed that the South African Olympic management had arrived. I popped into their office and said,  ¢â‚¬Å“Gooie more, almal. God seen julle ryklik vandag ¢â‚¬ . (Good morning, everyone. God bless you richly today ¢â‚¬  – in Afrikaans). I repeated the greeting in Zulu. Worked stopped and heads whipped around to respond. It was great to catch up with Leon Fleiser, an Elite Powerlifer from past Paralympic Games. He informed me that Michael Louwrens, the Elite Champion shotput, discus and javelin thrower has qualified for his 4^th Paralympics. I look forward to seeing Michael again since my privilege to pray for his healing at the Sydney Games when he tore a muscle in his groin that would have excluded him from the medal contentions. God graciously healed Michael and he went on the next day to win gold in the shotput and break his own world record. In addition to that Michael gave his life to Christ and has been sharing his faith for 12 years with great effect.

I also had a very interesting talk with Freedom Chiya and Grant Goldschmidt, two very big muscular guys who are the South African beach volleyball players. Chiya comes fromDurbanwhere I was born. We enjoyed a few minutes speaking in Zulu to each other and shared about Jesus.

On the train to the Olympic Village one morning I started talking with Nora fromTipperary,Ireland. She asked what I did at the Olympics and normally for a living. I told her I was a director of a charity that supported 5,500 orphans inEastern Europe. Her eyes filled with tears as she asked,  ¢â‚¬Å“What motivates you to do that? ¢â‚¬  I told her   how I had embraced Jesus 50 years ago at 18 years of age and His love growing in me motivates me to do what I do. She then burst out,  ¢â‚¬Å“I want to know Jesus like that. ¢â‚¬  She opened her heart to the Lord on the train.

One day after parking the Olympic car in the Village garage I was passing through the security check and saw just ahead of me, John Eales (the great Australian Rugby captain) and Mark Waugh (the great Australian Cricket captain. I introduced myself and asked them if they knew Morn ƒ © du Plessis (the great South African Rugby captain of the 1970 ¢â‚¬â„¢s) who is my cousin. (I had the privilege of growing up in an amazing international sporting family). They both replied that they knew him well. John Eales asked what I was doing at the Games and then what I did in life. I told him that from lour charity we supported many orphans in Eastern Europe, especially in theChernobyl radiation zone of Southern Belarus. He was amazed and wished me well in such a good work.

One very hectic day I had to collect a group of Belarusian Journalists from Gatwick Airport. They were a cheerful bunch chattering away like men do in the back of the Citroen C4. When we arrived at the Olympic Village security check manned by the Military, the journalists went very quiet and looked apprehensive at the sight of the uniforms. I explained to the captain who the men were and he asked,  ¢â‚¬Å“What should I say to them? ¢â‚¬  I replied,  ¢â‚¬Å“Just say in Russian,  ¢â‚¬ËœOochine harrasho. Da blagaslviet tibia Gaspot! ¢â‚¬  (phonetically  ¢â‚¬ËœVery good. God bless you! ¢â‚¬â„¢). The journalists burst out laughing and said,  ¢â‚¬Å“You ¢â‚¬â„¢ve understood us all along, you sneaky man. ¢â‚¬  A great friendship has been established there.

As Volunteers we were honoured to conduct the Rehearsal for the Opening Ceremony two days before the great event. This had to be familiarise ourselves with the line up and timing of the entrance of 204 teams into the Olympic Stadium. On this night we entered the Stadium as if we were athletes, although there was not much crowd in the stands. All the dancers and drummers were in place to greet us. It was awesome. The only other time I have done this in entering the Sydney Olympic Stadium for the 2009 World Masters Games where I competed as a swimmer.

Then the night arrived for the grand Opening Ceremony. Our team was responsible for getting theBelarus Olympic team into place to march to the Stadium. The atmosphere was electric with excitement as we marched the kilometre to the Stadium. After we delivered theBelarus team to the Stadium officials we were free to walk back to the Village and admire the other nations ¢â‚¬â„¢ teams.

Meeting Usain Bolt at the Jamaican Team line up was great. Everyone was clamouring for a photo with the great man. All I did was squeeze through the crowed, shake his hand and say,  ¢â‚¬Å“God bless you for your events. ¢â‚¬  He looked very surprised and thanked me, as if no one had thought to say that to him.

I also met two Jamaican athletes standing humbly to the side of the crowd – Dane Hyatt (a sprinter & relay runner on left) and Richard Philips (a hurdler).   I felt a deep conviction that these two men were arriving at their time of greatness.

Catching a glimpse of Maria Sharapova with the Russian team was amazing. She is a very cheerful, personable and compassionate person off the court. I had the privilege to meet her tennis sparring partner Vladimir at Gatwick Airport last week.

I’d really appreciate your prayers for these Games and the Paralympics too. Funds are low at present after all the recent missions, the ministry to the poor, the orphans ¢â‚¬â„¢ camps, the seminars to the Latvian Military and now the Olympics to be followed by the Paralympics next month.

Love and blessings,

Dave