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Filipina weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz proudly displays her Olympics gold medal and the Miraculous Medal, a devotional medallion depicting the Virgin Mary. / Hidilyn Diaz’s Instagram Stories

Washington D.C., Aug 10, 2021 / 12:01 pm (CNA).

The games of the 32nd Olympiad closed on Sunday, bringing an end to more than two weeks of competitions featuring the world’s most talented athletes with a global audience. 

Some competitors, however, made it clear that they were playing not only for national pride and a piece of hardware, but also for a greater purpose. 

Here are some moments where athletes shared their faith on the world’s stage:

A Miraculous Medal for a miraculous victory

On the third day of the games, Filipina weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz won the first-ever Olympic gold medal for her country. Diaz, who competed in the women’s 55kg event, set an Olympic record with her clean and jerk of 127kg and a combined weight of 224kg. Her gold medal improved on her second-place finish at the 2016 games in Rio. 

Images of Diaz’s visibly emotional face on her final lift went viral, and after she successfully completed the lift, she repeatedly said “Thank you, Lord” and clutched her Miraculous Medal necklace. 

After the Philippine national anthem was played at the medal ceremony, Diaz stepped down from the podium, made the Sign of the Cross, and shouted “Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!” (“Long live the Philippines!”)

Glorifying God in the pool

South African swimmer Tatjana Schoenmaker left Tokyo with a gold medal in the 200-meter breaststroke and a surprise silver in the 100-meter breaststroke. Schoenmaker swam with a pair of cross-shaped earrings, and underneath her official Team South Africa-issued swim cap, Schoenmaker donned a white swim cap with the words “Soli Deo Gloria” (“Glory to God Alone”) written on it.

That swim cap was on display during the qualifying rounds in the 100-meter breaststroke, as her country’s cap nearly fell off her head in both races.

Sydney McLaughlin and Team USA run to glorify God

Sydney McLaughlin wrote on her Instagram following her first gold medal win that she prayed “my journey may be a clear depiction of submission and obedience to God.” 

“​​I have never seen God fail in my life. In anyone’s life for that matter. Just because I may not win every race, or receive every one of my heart’s desires, does not mean God had failed. His will is PERFECT,” she said.

After winning her second gold medal – on her 22nd birthday – McLaughlin thanked God for another year of life, and wrote that she looks “forward to unveiling where it takes me as you continue to establish my steps.”

McLaughlin’s teammates are vocal about their faiths as well. Athing Mu, a 19-year-old breakout star of the games, posted that her year had been one of faith and perseverance.

“In the end, I chose to grasp onto God and allow Him to take complete control of my life. It allowed me to take a step back, learn how to trust Him entirely and HAVE FAITH,” she said.

Marileidy Paulino wears her faith on her feet

Marileidy Paulino, the Dominican Republic track star, is leaving Tokyo with two silver medals: one in the mixed 4×400 relay, and another in the 400. She’s the first woman ever from the Dominican Republic to win an Olympic medal. 

After her second-place finish in the 400, Paulino told the Associated Press that she considered her medal a “miracle,” as she had only been running that distance for one year. 

On her spikes, Paulino wrote “Dios es mi esperanza,” Spanish for “God is my hope.” 

Wrestler goes viral for praising the Lord and her country

Female wrestlers are not household names in the United States, but Tamyra Mensah-Stock’s interview after winning gold in the Women’s 68kg freestyle competition went viral.

“It’s by the grace of God I’m able to move my feet. I just leave it in His hands,” she said, adding that she prayed that all of her hard work would be worth it. 

“And every single time it does, and I get better and better,” she said. “I’m excited to see what I have next.”

Jesus makes all things new

Nicola McDermott of Australia took the silver medal in women’s high jump competition, jumping a personal best 2.02 meters in the final. During each competition, McDermott not only wrote in her journal, but also wrote a devotional passage on her wrist. 

For the final, McDermott wrote “JESUS makes all things new,” with a cross drawn underneath. She told Australian media following her medal win that ​​when she was a teenager, she was “always an outcast” before joining a church. 

“I got welcomed into a faith community that loved me. I remember encountering God’s love and it changed the way that I thought of myself as a misfit,” she said.

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lev radin/Shutterstock

Washington D.C., May 24, 2021 / 18:30 pm (CNA).
Dioceses in the state of New York updated their COVID-19 guidelines last week, following the recent shift in federal pandemic safety recommendations.The Archdiocese of New Yo… […]

Exterior of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. / Shutterstock

Boston, Mass., Nov 23, 2022 / 14:30 pm (CNA).

In a 2017 email, a doctor at the transgender clinic at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia said she was not aware of any medical studies at the time that supported the irreversible surgeries the clinic had been performing on minors, public records show.

The statement is contained in internal emails, obtained by a private citizen through a public documents request, between Dr. Nadia Dowshen — co-director of the Gender and Sexuality Development Clinic at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia — and Dr. Rachel Levine. At the time Levine, a biological male who identifies as a transgender female, was Pennsylvania’s physician general. Today Levine serves as assistant secretary for health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Critics of so-called “gender-affirming” surgeries and treatments for young people with gender dysphoria were outraged by the disclosure, which one leading pediatrician says suggests that these procedures amount to “a giant experiment on children” that lack a clear understanding on the part of health care professionals and their young patients of the risks and long-term consequences involved.

But in a statement to CNA, Levine said there was “nothing unusual” about the email exchange and maintained that the “medical validity” of these procedures has been “affirmed.”

In one of the emails, Levine asked Dowshen and another co-director of the Gender & Sexuality Development Clinic, Dr. Linda Hawkins, about what Levine called “gender confirmation surgery” for “young people under 18 years of age,” which Levine said could include “top surgery for trans young men and top and bottom surgery for trans young women.”

“Top” and “bottom” surgery are the common parlance among transgender supporters for major, irreversible surgical changes to make a person appear to be a different sex. These include the removal of women’s breasts and the removal and reconstruction of male sexual organs.

“Is there any literature to support this protocol?” Levine asked in the May 4, 2017, email. “Please let me know if you have any references.”

The same day, Dowshen responded and wrote: “Hi Rachel, I’m not aware of existing literature but it is certainly happening. I think we’ve had more than 10 patients who have had chest surgery under 18 (as young as 15) and 1 bottom surgery (17).”

Dowshen said she was currently working with colleagues to “get some pre-post data for top surgeries for youth under 18” and suggested that a research assistant could do a literature search to make sure they were “not missing anything,” to which Levine agreed.

“A lot of our youth are being denied coverage for top surgery if under 18,” Dowshen said.

In a statement to CNA Wednesday, Levine downplayed the significance of the email exchange.

“As physician general of the state of Pennsylvania, I worked to remain aware of the latest science in a number of health areas. This allowed me to offer policy recommendations to the governor, to offer strong managerial oversight on behalf of the people of Pennsylvania, and to coordinate effectively with my peers,” Levine said.

“My question about the existing literature on surgeries for minors was asked in the same spirit as many of the other questions I asked in that role — that of making sure I was aware of the latest and most relevant data on an issue of public interest,” Levine said.

“There was nothing unusual about that exchange, and in the years since it occurred, the medical validity of gender affirming care has only been reaffirmed and strengthened,” Levine said. “It is important to note the standards of care for patients include psychological and medical evaluations and, if necessary, treatment and support for the young person and their family. Children who have not yet started puberty do not receive medical treatment — at that age, care focuses on counseling and being mindful of the needs of the young person, their family, and their school.”

CNA also contacted Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for comment but did not receive a response.

‘A giant experiment on children’

Dr. Quentin Van Meter, president of the American College of Pediatricians — an organization of pediatricians that advocates for children’s health and well-being — criticized the email exchange. He told CNA that it is wrong for any doctor to be doing experimental surgeries when there are no long-term studies to support them.

Van Meter said the result of the doctors doing experimental sex-change surgeries on minors is that “the lives of what will be tens of thousands of children are ruined.”

He said that there are no long-term studies in existence to support sex-change surgeries, whether that be for minors or adults.

“This is a giant experiment on children,” he said. “Medicine cannot be practiced that way.”

Van Meter also took issue with Levine’s response to CNA. 

Van Meter said Levine is wrong about transgender surgeries being “affirmed” by science, saying that “it’s actually been torn to shreds by science.”

“It’s the most embarrassing, non-scientific facade in a very scientific environment,” he said.

The original publicizer of the emails, Twitter user Megan Brock, told CNA she gained access to the emails through a Pennsylvania Right to Know Law public document request.

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is the latest hospital to come under fire after media exposés have shown that gender transition surgeries on minors have been taking place at medical institutions across the nation.

In August, Boston Children’s Hospital took heavy criticism when news broke that it was offering gender transition treatments and surgeries for kids. The hospital has since updated its website and says that only 18-year-olds qualify for “phalloplasty or metoidioplasty and for vaginoplasty surgeries.”

The website still says that the hospital will perform “chest surgery” on 15-year-olds.

In October, Vanderbilt University Medical Hospital paused gender transition surgeries on children after an investigation into the hospital was called for by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee. Vanderbilt’s surgeries on minors — and the lucrative nature of its transgender surgeries in general — were originally exposed by Matt Walsh, an internet host for The Daily Wire.

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