This Olympian’s Greatest Award Isn’t Gold. It’s Jesus’ Sacrifice.
By Movieguide® Contributor
Gold medal Olympian Shawn Johnson East explained how reaching the pinnacle of sports success taught her to find her value in Christ.
“I did this interview with I Am Second a few years after I retired [from gymnastics] and people were split. It was a controversial interview because I basically said I stood on top of a podium and won an Olympic gold medal, at what people would say was the highest peak of my career, and I literally had the thought on the podium, ‘Is this it? Is this what I’ve worked for my whole life?’ Johnson East told the “Dadville” podcast.
During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she took home four medals, including a gold for beam.
“That people, like, teach you will fulfill your whole being, and I was like, wow, I’m in trouble because it’s like, now what?” she continued. “If you just keep chasing the next big thing, you’ll never find it.”
READ MORE: Olympic Gold Medalist Shawn Johnson on Why She Places Her Identity in Christ
That moment stuck with Johnson East, and even though she continued her gymnastics career, it placed a seed in her to start looking for her foundation somewhere else.
“I think the coolest thing that I learned at that time that I got to take with me forever was I stood as high as the world could see, and I was, like, praised and then I stood on the second place podium and think I gave a better performance than the actual gold medal one, but the world was like, ‘How does it feel to lose?’ And it gave me this perspective of like, it actually doesn’t matter what anybody’s opinion is,” she said.
“I can tell you objectively speaking, at those Olympic Games, my silver medal performance was better than the gold, but the world’s like — the opinions of [the world] was so off,” Johnson East continued. “I was just like, I don’t really care anymore, I’m going to just try to do my best and your objective opinion doesn’t matter.”
Instead of caring about what the world has to say about her, Johnson East began to listen to God and hear that He sees her as His beloved daughter — whether or not she is a gymnastics star.
“God is the answer to everything, and Jesus sacrificed his life on the cross so that when I stood up there and I was given that gold medal, yes, it’s a monumental and amazing experience and wonderful thing. But it’s not the end all be all,” Johnson East said. “Yes, I can work my whole life to become the CEO of a company or to make a certain amount of money or to win 12 more Olympic gold medals. But it’s not the purpose in life, and He will always be my greatest reward and my proudest reward.”
Now, the former gymnast and her husband, Andrew East, use their platform to glorify God.
“At one point, we were doing slime videos because it made money and it was what the cool kids were doing,” Johnson East told Women’s World. “After probably our tenth slime video, I remember asking my husband like, ‘What are we doing? We’re almost 30 years old making slime on YouTube for what reason?’”
“I asked, ‘We’ve been given this platform for God knows what reason. I don’t know why people follow us, but it’s amazing and it is a blessing. What can we do with it?’”
They do that, in part, through their podcast “Couple Things,” where they talk about marriage and parenting.
But for her and Andrew, being parents to Drew, 5, Jett, 2, and Barrett, born last December, is the most important thing.
READ MORE: SHAWN JOHNSON EAST TEACHES DAUGHTER ‘GOD MADE HER ON PURPOSE’
“Everything was about me,” she said of life after the Olympics. “It was about my dreams, my goals and my aspirations and after getting married and having babies, it’s funny how all that shifts so drastically. Now all of my dreams and aspirations have to do with being the best wife, being the best mother. Even my career, I have dreams in my career, but if they don’t serve my family, they don’t even feel worth it. I want to do it all for my babies.”
