We Did It Together!

The Winter Olympics are in full swing across Northern Italy and will be watched by over 2 billion people world-wide. Approximately 2,900 athletes will compete in events such as Alpine Skiing, Figure Skating, Ice Hockey, Cross-Country skiing and a slew of other contests.

Some events are less familiar to the average fan, like Curling, Ski Mountaineering, and Mixed-Team Skeleton, but these events will be as hotly contested as the more familiar ones. Around 232 American athletes will represent our country and do their best to earn a spot on the medal podium. While earning an Olympic medal is the goal of every athlete, just participating is quite an achievement.

Gold medalists team USA celebrate during the medal ceremony after the Team Event Free Skating of the Figure Skating competitions at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, in Milan, Italy, 08 February 2026. (EPA)

Until the 1970s, the athletes competing in the Olympic Games were mostly amateurs, but those days are long gone. Today, the athletes are professionals and earn a living by competing in contests held around the globe. Still, I enjoy watching the athletes compare their skills and test their endurance with the best in the world.

My wife and I are spending time in the evenings watching the various competitions. She enjoys figure skating the best, while I love watching the skiing events—downhill racing in particular. A downhill racer can accelerate to almost 100 mph. Now that is scary fast. For those of you who have skied, and have lost control going less than half that speed, the mere thought of going down a hill at 85-90 mph is frighteningly unimaginable. So dangerous is the event, alpine skiers wear a special air-bag under their ski uniform.

Breezy Johnson - Downhill Gold Medalist

While watching the events is a rewarding way to pass an evening, I especially enjoy learning about the participants, whether they are Americans or competitors from other countries. When we see these athletes, both men and women, we tend to believe they are just superior human beings, failing to realize that many of them have overcome incredible odds just to make their respective teams. Each athlete has a story and many of their stories reveal that these young men and women have experienced tragedies and disappointments like the rest of us.  

The American ice skater Maxim Naumov is a case in point. In January of last year, his parents were killed when an Army helicopter collided with their American Airlines flight near Washington DC. Maxim was training for this year’s Olympics when he learned of his parent’s death. He became virtually paralyzed with grief. “All I wanted to do in that moment was to lie in my bed or my couch and just rot,” said the 24-year-old skater.

Maxim Naumov

Maxim’s parents were his biggest cheerleaders and supporters. They first took him to the rink when he was only 2 or 3-years-old and infused in him the love of skating. It was the family’s dream that one day he would skate in the Olympic Games.

After their tragic deaths, he felt his dream of competing in the Olympics had been shattered. Both his mom and dad had been world champions in pairs figure skating in 1994 for Russia. He dreamed that one day he would follow in their footsteps. But in their absence he could barely manage to get out of bed.

His friends, though, would not allow his dream to die. They surrounded Maxim with love, support, and encouragement. His coach, Vladimir Petrenko, patiently remained a believer in Maxim’s ability and wisely realized that what his talented but grief-stricken skater needed more than anything else was love and understanding. “Love first,” the coach told his wife, “that’s the most important thing.”

Maxim’s best friend, Spencer Howe, also played an indispensable role in his desire to skate again. Spencer was also training for the Winter Olympics and knew the grueling mental and physical preparation needed to compete at this highest level. Spencer’s Christian faith became a source of encouragement and hope for Maxim and gave him strength to want to get back on the ice.

Spencer Howe and figure skating partner, Emily Chan

His godparents, skating club, and other friends continued to be there for him as he gradually began to train. Some days his heart just wasn’t in it, but his coach and friends just continued to pour on the love. Maxim later said that he was surrounded by so much love, it wasn’t possible for him to fail.

In the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, which would determine the top three skaters who would go to the Winter Olympics, he finished third, high enough to earn a spot on the U.S. team. He had realized his dream and the dream of his parents. When he learned that he had made the team, he could not help but look to the heavens and say, “We did it! We did it together!” The inspiration of his parents, the patience of his coach, and the love and encouragement of his friends had all helped him to make this dream come true.

Reading Maxim’s story helped me once again to realize the importance of others, the importance of together, and the importance of community. Whatever we accomplish in this life is accomplished together. The journey of life is anything but a solo voyage. We need each other. We depend on each other. Our fulfillment and happiness in this world rests on whether we are together—with family, friends, and neighbors.

Maxim Naumov of the U.S. reacts after performing his routine during the men's singles short program at the Milano Ice Skating Arena at the Winter Olympic Games on Feb. 10, 2026

This great truth will be writ large in the Olympic Games over and over again during the next few weeks. Competitors will cheer each other on, embrace each other in victory and defeat, and laugh and cry together. The Games will end with the athletes marching around the Olympic stadium. There will be no national flags representing the individual nations in this concluding parade. Only human beings arm in arm, hand in hand, laughing and dancing together. How could it be any other way? After all, human beings, created in the image of God, transcend national boundaries and borders.

In the final analysis, we are far more than competitors. We are finite creatures of flesh and blood, who desperately need the love, support, and fellowship of others. Only then can we triumphantly say, “We did it! We did it together!”