Olympic Swimmer Scores Gold but Keeps ‘God First’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Swimmer Hunter Armstrong helped secure Team USA’s first 2024 Olympic gold in the 4×100 meter men’s relay, but he wants to keep “God first.”
“That’s the first thing I want people to see and know about me,” he told the Baptist Press. “As we grow, we have to make sure we have our priorities in line. I keep God as a priority. I can’t really live without him. I can live without swimming or being an Olympian or any of that stuff.”
Even though Armstrong has known the Lord for most of his life, he’s faced doubts.
“I feel like in past years I’ve been sort of on the edge of it,” he explained. “When I’m in competition, I’ll pray, and that will last for a little bit. Church camp, same kind of thing. But as soon as I didn’t need him anymore, it would fade.”
However, two painful moments changed the way he viewed his faith.
One was when Armstrong and his girlfriend, whom he thought he would marry, broke up.
“That was my first real relationship. I had a proposal planned out. I was already pre-ordering the ring,” Armstrong told Eleven Warriors. “I was certain that I was going to marry this girl, and I quickly watched it all crumble.”
The other moment was his grandfather’s death.
“The biggest catalyst for change in life tends to be pain,” he said. “Sometimes God will put you in a position where you have no other choice than to turn to Him.
“That’s been the biggest change that I’ve made this year,” Armstrong added. “I promised at [world championships] that if He would help me get out of this, then I would embrace it.”
Movieguide® recently reported on Armstrong’s faith:
“Every time I swim, I point up to the sky because it’s God first. Like none of this matters without Him, and you know, it got to the point where…it became a habit, just part of the pre-race ritual, and I didn’t like that,” Armstrong said on the “Sports Spectrum” podcast.
He explained that while sends up a quick prayer before every race, he doesn’t necessarily do it after if he doesn’t win, a habit he changed going into the 2024 World Championship.
“That was something that I made an effort toward this year is you don’t only accept everything that comes with it when you win,” Armstrong continued. “You can’t be upset and be like, ‘Oh shoot. He didn’t answer my prayer.’ Because that’s where things get shady.”
“Michael [Phelps] was racing against me in the fifty back at Worlds,” he said. “Like we’re both praying. Not to necessarily win. I’ve sort of changed my prayer because I don’t want to ever say, ‘Please God, let me win.’”
“My prayer before every race is, ‘Give me the strength to do my best and may whatever I do bring glory to your name,’” he revealed.
He has an even bigger reach now, following his gold-medal win in Paris.
“The American quartet of Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong and Caeleb Dressel won the gold medal in dominant fashion, touching the wall in 3:09.28,” the Olympics reported.
“I definitely didn’t expect it. I just went in. I would give my entire body and soul up for these boys. I knew I had to give Caeleb everything I had, and so I was glad I was able to get my job done,” Armstrong said.