Sports, Faith and Peace
By PierAngelo Beltrami
ParaOlympic Champion, U.S. National Gold Medalist, Cycling


An athlete is a kind of warrior, but his enemy is not the obvious enemy with a gun or a knife. An athlete, instead, fights against the limitations of his own mind and body. He seeks to get control of his mind, then control of his body, and through his body, to control the course of a specific game or course.

The first fight any athlete has is inside his thoughts. We must fight against doubt, fear, and discouragement. We must train our mind to be positive. We must be able to focus, beyond any distractions. We must be able to imagine a goal and to believe that the goal is achievable. And we must believe that we are worthy to achieve the dream, and that our body is capable of achieving it.

Then, the athlete must get control over the body. This involves a lot of daily practice, special training, working with time and developing new skills. When others are resting, the athlete is still working. When others are willing to give up, the athlete needs to keep going. When others accept limitations, the athlete works harder, to constantly surpass them.

In my own experience, I have found that God is very much a part of the process. Many times, religious people think of God only in terms of official duty, or devotional actions like prayer, fasting or service. But God is the origin of all of creation, and God is alive. When we do something with a pure motivation, and for a bigger purpose, we invite God to be there. So when we set out to win something, and we are experiencing difficulties and obstacles, God is there with us, and God is actively working to support us.

As a person who lost a leg at a young age, I face a lot of challenges every time I prepare for a race. But I find that the process of going through the training and participating in the race becomes a reward in itself. During those seemingly lonely moments, while peddling the bike, enduring pain and exhaustion, I reached a point where I would decide to offer it all up to God, to be used by Him for some higher purpose. Then, I would feel God with me, and I could feel he was happy. Many miracles would happen through this process.

For instance, in my first Olympic competition, I was training in Colorado, and had qualified to be on the U.S. team, but I had some problems with my status, because my citizenship application had been stalled for some time, and I wasn’t legally a U.S. citizen. Suddenly, a miracle happened. I was called to Washington, granted my U.S. citizenship, sworn in, given my U.S. passport, and interviewed by the Washington Post—all in one day!

That was my first international race, and I didn’t know many things. For that reason, I had to pray hard, and to trust completely in God. I really didn’t know what I was doing and had no strategy, nothing. So, I prayed all through the race, and many miracles happened. For instance, someone fell right in front of me, but for some reason, I was able to avoid running into them. Then, at a certain time in the final lap, I heard a voice saying “Go, NOW!!” I just poured it on, sprinting and managed to pass all my companions and reach the group ahead, coming in third and receiving the Bronze Medal.

Standing there and seeing the American flag go up and hearing the national anthem, I couldn’t stop crying. For a kid from the remote mountains of Italy to be able to come to America, become a citizen and compete for America, and finally, win—it was so overwhelming. I could only attribute this to God. He is real, and he wants to work in our lives everyday.

By the way, the ParaOlympics is a division of the Olympics, with the same rules and standards, which takes place in the same venues, one week after the regular games. There are usually about 6,000 athletes participating, all of whom have mobility or other physical disabilities. There is a high level of competition, especially among the European nations, where the governments support the athletes completely, and they get the best training and equipment. They are well taken care of because they represent the nation. Americans have to find sponsors and support privately.

To illustrate the level of the competition, the world record for the 100 meters for all athletes is 9.9 seconds. One of the ParaOlympic runners, who lost both legs below the knee, ran the same distance in 10.5 seconds, just half a second slower.

What I love about the Interreligious Sports and Peace Festival is that it goes beyond even the Olympics, where the athlete competes to represent the nation. Here, the athlete represents not only the nation, but the religious faith. Here is an additional challenge, to apply and live our faith through our competition, and ultimately to offer our united effort to God, who is the Origin of us all. In that way, we compete as brothers, not as strangers. I have been fortunate in making competitors into friends, who help each other grow and support each other, sharing our experience and uplifting each person’s abilities.

Many people think that the opening ceremonies of the Olympics are the high point, or maybe the competition itself. But the actual real spirit of the Olympics is only felt at the closing ceremony, because that’s when everyone realizes that they came in representing their individual nations through sports, but through competing together, they have been connected, bonded, by a higher reality. They have come together, in a joyful way, and everyone is a winner, because they all were able to participate and to experience the spirit of friendship, love and brotherhood.

I know that the same phenomenon will happen here, but to an even higher degree. Because each person here is a person of faith, then each one will bring out their faith in their performance. It doesn’t matter which faith wins, as long as God wins. It’s not a theology that is winning, it’s the transcendent divine creator in all that is winning.

Sports is actually a way to reach God. I win over my mind, I win over my body, and I win over the circumstances of the race, and perhaps, I win over some or all of my competitors. But I can always comfort and reach God, and I can always encourage my brothers. So when religious people compete, it’s like the different parts of God competing—it’s a win/win situation.

That’s why my advice to athletes is to have the utmost respect for each other. Pray for each other. Make sure that your competitor has his water bottle ready before the competition. I have learned that the happiest feeling is to be on the starting line and to be able to look left and right and to smile and say “may the best man win.”

If someone else wins, I feel “in this case, my brother was better than me. Or I didn’t do enough to deserve the victory.” This makes me strive to improve myself, to become more excellent in my own skills. That’s helping me to become better. If I lose sight of that, if I think about myself or lose my positive outlook, that’s when I feel frustrated or unhappy.

We are not just competing for excellence personally, however. Here, our ultimate goal is to create peace. This may seem impossible, especially as there are some who will win and others who will lose. In the world, winning means to be happy, and losing means pain. So how do we, as athletes and persons of faith, create peace through an athletic competition?

The only way is to see each other the way God sees each of us. It’s never too late to love in the same way that God loves. Because we are people of faith, and not just people of sports, we can go beyond the fences and boundaries that often separate. I can love my brother because we competed together, and showed each other our best effort, and attained something valuable that we will remember forever.

It’s never too late to embrace an enemy. We can learn how God forgives us by forgiving each other. Instead of seeing God as a lord that we have a duty to, we can see God’s loving nature and see that we are all his creations and his children. If we are all his children, if any of us are crying, God must be crying too. So no matter now much we love God, if we don’t love each other, God loses. If I want to love God to the highest degree, I have to love my brother, especially the brother on the other side of the fence.

And this is how we can bring peace through sports. Since everyone in the world loves sports, loves to play games, loves to compete, a true sportsman can become the best ambassador for peace. The great soccer player, Pele, is not just a Brazilian, but he is an international treasure. Wherever he goes, he embodies the true spirit of being the best, and thus, he becomes someone that unites the hearts and minds of people. As you become the best you can, in your own field, you will naturally become an ambassador to those of many nations and faiths.

So, it is important to become absolute, to be totally clear and pure. An athlete must keep the mind pure, free of distractions, and not preoccupied with things that will then come out in the moment of performance. Each person is either my brother or my sister, so I don’t want to have anything but complete respect and honor for them. Thus, the true athlete is someone who is commander of his eyes and ears and mouth and heart. He is also too honorable to misuse another person. Instead of living for the moment, looking for quick pleasure, the real champion lives for eternity. He or she is like gold—never changing, always pure, able to receive any heat or hammering but never losing himself or herself in the process.

In training, the real athlete disciplines himself, keeping a strong daily schedule, with practice, food, rest, religious observance, preparation and competition in good balance. He needs to think about his team members next, and help them to make sure they are prepared fully. He has to make sure that equipment and other things are prepared. He has to be attentive to the small details, because these are the things that can create problems.

If you are truly focused, when you win, you will first thank God almighty, who made it possible. Then, you thank the team. Immediately, you embrace and thank your competitors, and make sure they feel okay and have no injury or problem. Thank your family, and thank those who supported you.

At this festival, there are also many educational and cultural events. Why are these important? When someone expresses creativity, through arts or performing, it is an expression of God’s creation and it honors God as well. Through learning new information, we also gain knowledge and illumination, which we can then share with others. All these things bring us closer to God and closer to our brothers and sisters, and finally, closer to our own true nature.

By seeing the beauty in each other’s cultures and traditions, we can understand the true value of human beings. We are not just valuable in one field alone, but we are the sum of many elements, including our families. When we see beauty in dance, in drumming, in visual art, or in song, we are experiencing God’s creativity that he planted into human beings. We honor and please God by reaching out to others with our unique creative gifts.

I have learned to see every person as my brother, my sister, my son, my daughter, my mother or my father. I feel so close to each person I meet because of this. I hope that by making a family feeling, a family atmosphere here at the IPSF, we can all bring home hundreds of new ideas and experiences to share with our own families and communities.

Thank you for deciding to be men and women of peace. I pray for your total success in every part of your lives.