Olympics 2016 Athlete Who Didn't Win Medals But Still Gave God Glory

The Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro were about much more than athletes winning coveted medals for their home country for some Olympians. The Christian Post rounded up five Christian Olympians who used their international platform to glorify God even without gold, medal or bronze hardware.

Abbey D'Agostino of USA is helped from the track after finishing the race at the Rio Olympics 2016 in Brazil on August 16, 2016.

1. Abbey D'Agostino, 24, Team USA Track & Field

During Abbey D'Agostino's first Olympic run in the 5000m race, she managed to tear her ACL, meniscus and strain her MCL. While she missed out on winning a medal, God had bigger plans for an injured D'Agostino who helped her fallen competitor, New Zealand's Nikki Hamblin, finish the race after the pair got tangled in the race.

"The only way I can and have rationalized it is that God prepared my heart to respond that way," said D'Agostino. "This whole time here, he's made clear to me that my experience in Rio was going to be about more than my race performance — and as soon as Nikki got up I knew that was it."

D'Agostino's valiant effort resulted in her receiving a "Fair Play Award" from The International Fair Play Committee (CIFP), with the support of the International Olympic Committee.

The Massachusetts native is a graduate of Dartmouth college, where she made her faith a priority.

"I was involved with a couple Christian organizations at Dartmouth, so I'm looking forward to finding a new church in Boston and making new friends there," she previously told ESPN.

Now that Abbey is an Olympian, she realizes that God has orchestrated her entire journey.

"God has taken me on an unparalleled journey. I feel like I have learned so much through this spring … there have been a lot of ups and downs," she revealed. "But I would not have been able to learn any of the lessons and I would never have reached such a familiarity and understanding of Christ without the way that it's happened. It has been a season of waiting and uncertainty as I recover from injuries. That has really exposed to my heart my relationship with running."

Source: http://www.christianpost.com/news/5-rio-olympics-2016-athletes-who-didnt-win-medals-but-still-gave-god-glory-168351

By Christine Thomasos , Christian Post Reporter