Sanya Richards Attributes All Her Success To God
Sanya Richards-Ross, the fastest woman in history (at 400 meters) in track and field.
The runner revealed that after her accomplishments and failures, she has learned that life is all about glorifying God.
She confessed that her parents and husband helped her stay grounded in Christ, adding that they kept her focused.
“Ultimately as I got older,
I actually understood more and more that this life wasn’t about gold medals and records and any of that stuff.
It’s really all about glorifying God,”
The former track and field star won gold at the 2012 London Games.
After rigorous training to get a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Games, she suffered a career-ending injury.
She pulled her hamstring during the Olympic trials,after which she announced her retirement.
The Olympic gold medalist released her debut memoir, Chasing Grace: What the Quarter Mile Has Taught Me About God and Life, on June 6 2017.
In the book she shared her journey to Olympic fame, revealing the shame she went through after having an abortion.
She revealed that it was her relationship with her husband, Aaron Ross and her faith that has sustained her.
In an interview with The Christian Post, she stated that she has always loved God.
The 33 year old explained that she tries as much as possible to make him number one everyday.
“I’ve always loved the Lord and tried my best to keep Him at the forefront of my life whether I was chasing Olympic gold or not.
At the age of 13, the runner accepted Christ and ever since Sanya has always trusted in God to pull her through. She expressed sincerely that God has always been there for her.
I truly feel like it was my faith that really got me through my journey to Olympic success.
In the low times, knowing that God was always there with me and that everything happened in my life for a reason.
For me, I don’t feel like I went from Olympic gold to a woman of God, I feel like I am an Olympic gold medalist who is the woman of God.”
According to her she was able to grow in Christ through her sport. She expressed how grateful she was to experience God the way she did as a runner.
“I feel like my sport helped me grow closer to God and helped me to lean on Him and understand that He does love us unconditionally.
I truly understand that, and I’m grateful that I had sports as a platform to truly experience God in a unique way.”
She revealed a difficult time in her life In 2008, where she found out she was pregnant. Due to the fact that her lifetime of work was right before her, Sanya made the decision with her husband, Aaron Ross who was at training camp as New York Giants player.
Sanya explained in her new book that it was a difficult season adding that she would NOT advice another woman on what to do in her situation because it’s between her and God.
“Whatever you decide, there is forgiveness and hope on the other side of it.
I think for me, after that time in my life, I literally felt so much guilt and shame. I felt like I was outside of the umbrella of God’s love.
I get emotional talking about it because I know how hard it was for me as a Christian, who never thought I would do something like having an abortion.
I think the most important thing for women to know is that when you ask God for forgiveness, He will forgive you and you can rebound from that and still be the woman that you hope to be.
Life isn’t always black-and-white. Sometimes life does get gray, and sometimes we do things that even shocks ourselves, but we are human.”
The jamaican american added that despite it been 10 years since her abortion, it still affects her when she thinks about it.
But she chooses to talk about it because she wants to support women who went through the same phase to know that there is forgiveness
Sanya is currently pregnant for the second time and is celebrating the fact that “God does restore.”
She has a heart for ministry, she would “absolutely” love to use her gift of speaking and encouraging in ministry.
“That’s the reason I wanted to share my experiences and I did give my testimony in my church the week after the book was out.
I ultimately want that to be my biggest platform with this book — to be able to speak to women and men in ministry.
For me, it’s not political, it’s not any of those things, it really is spiritual.”
According to her, a number of women have approached her after sharing her story and could totally relate to it.
Now off the track, Richards-Ross is an entrepreneur, TV personality, public speaker and humanitarian.
She runs “The Gold Standard,” to raise awareness and provide financial relief for Olympic hopefuls whose Olympic dreams are limited by the expense.
She’s also the founder of the “Sanya Richards-Ross Fast Track Program” that has provided hundreds of children in Kingston, Jamaica, with literacy training, physical education and healthy meals.
In addition, Richards-Ross executes sports clinics across the United States to educate and empower youth with tools to excel both on and off the track.
