USA Pole Vaulter Reflects on NCAA Win: ‘This Is What God Wants’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Gabriela Leon is a pole vaulter for Team USA. Before that, she competed for the University of Louisville, where she won a National Championship in 2022.
On an episode of the “What’s Up Podcast” with Sports Spectrum, Leon explained that she felt God’s presence ahead of that win.
“When that time came to compete at NCAA, something in me that day,” she began, “There was just a fire inside me that day where I was like, ‘I know this is it. This is what God wants. For those who are paying attention to my story, God’s gonna do something today.’ And I just went in, and I mean, I gave everything I had, and standing on that podium at the end, it was just amazing. You just felt the presence of God, and it was awesome.”
Leon took to social media to celebrate the win.
“Oh, what this means to me! When I tell you, the hard work and daily dedication pays off! This year has been a year of intentionality and making every single day count,” she wrote at the time.
“This win is not my own,” she added. “This win is for the ones who believed in me and my journey along the way. So much love and appreciation for Coach Rasnick and all she’s put into my teammates and I. She is so dedicated, selfless, and strong. Thank you to my trainers for keeping me healthy, and thank you to my teammates for holding me accountable and pushing me everyday!”
“I want to thank God for being by my side through this process and giving me strength to show the world what he can do when you work hard and let him do the rest,” she added in another statement.
Soon after Leon finished her time at Louisville, she qualified for Team USA.
“Excited to have qualified for team 🇺🇸USA🇺🇸 to compete in my first ever World Championships one week from today!! I could not be more grateful for this opportunity God has blessed me with,” she wrote in another 2022 Instagram post.
Leon also included Philippians 1:6, which says, “Be confident of this very thing that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
“God will finish what he started if we keep our eyes set on him,” she concluded.
While Leon didn’t make it to the Paris Olympics this summer, she trusted God after her Olympic trials didn’t go as planned.
“In disheartening times it is easy to wonder what God is doing and forget past blessings. But we can’t choose to only praise God in the highs and then question what he is doing in the lows,” she wrote on Instagram. “We can’t forget what he has done for us when things don’t go our way. There is always a purpose. He is faithful and he has a plan.. so I trust Him.”
As she recovers from injuries and prepares for her next season, Leon believes God will bring rest and healing, quoting Psalm 1:3 in an August Instagram post: “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yield its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does he prospers.”