Throughout most of February, the world’s attention will be on the athletes and competitions at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy. The newest competition in the biennial rotation tells a story of hope, determination, dedication, and triumph.
And there’s a lot of mention of the three levels of medals awarded to the top finishers in each individual and team event: gold, silver, and bronze.
As a sportswriter or editor for the Deseret News, I’ve attended the past five Olympics — Atlanta 1996, Nagano 1998, Sydney 2000, Salt Lake 2002 and Beijing 2008 — and witnessed and reported some of these stories.
Many attendees and viewers are probably imagining competing in front of a packed crowd, including family and friends, and perhaps winning a medal.
But did you know that every athlete at each Olympic Games receives a medal?Participant medals have been around since the revival of the modern games in 1896. It is provided to event personnel and, in some cases, volunteers and media members.
The latter is how I received some participant medals, which were then replenished by purchasing medals online for other games I participated in. (And no, I still don’t claim to be a five-time Olympic medalist or participant.)
When we imagine competing in the Olympics, or even winning a medal, we immediately put those thoughts into perspective and instead think back to times in our lives when we experienced true joy – moments and events in the past, and what will happen from now on, not only in the second half of our lives, but after.
Sometimes we look at life and our Father’s plan of salvation through an Olympic-like lens, with moments centered around faith, family, and friends. This is not a perfect analogy, but there are some factors to consider.
In the premortal life, prior to the “events of life,” we received initial direction, guidance, and training from our Heavenly Father, including knowledge of the plan of salvation and our need for a Savior. We developed traits, talents, abilities, and spiritual abilities in our previous lives that were carried over into this life. We are given the autonomy to choose and act. We were promised the light of Christ, along with the companionship of the Holy Spirit, the authority of God’s power, our mortal union with the Father and the Son, and the earthly ordinances and covenants that provide us with the opportunity to return to the Father and Son after death.
We have “qualified” for this event by maintaining our past life choices and original status, and by coming to Earth we have received what I call a “participation medal” – our physical body. This medal may have imperfections and may receive dents and damage from life, but because of the resurrection of Christ and the consequent blessing of a perfected body promised to each of us, all participants will receive a “medal” of glory.
Now, we can best participate in this life event by making the right choices in accordance with the guidelines and rules of the event: the doctrines of Christ, the principles of the Lord’s restored gospel, and the blessings of the covenants, and by appropriately using the means and facilities available at the event, including prayer, study, gifts of the Holy Spirit, priesthood authority, and eternal ordinances.
We continue to strive to heed the teachings, guidance, and training of the Father, the Son, and their “assistants,” the prophets and apostles. We are not just new recruits or trainees, but rather children of a loving Father who follow the path He has set for us and become disciples of Christ.
And this life event is not a competition. We “win” not by beating or surpassing others, but by participating correctly, helping others finish their events, walking with them, encouraging them, helping them, and sometimes carrying them on their backs. Others are doing the same for us. There should be no “competitor”.
The others we help and receive help from are not only our past, present, and future family members, but also our friends (both those we know now and those we will know in the future), even people we meet, and even strangers in need.
Events in life have different levels of reward, and the promised heavenly, earthly, and heavenly glory is compared to the sun, moon, and stars. It is very similar to gold, silver and copper. But unlike the Olympic Games, where medals are awarded to the top three places of all participants, nearly everyone in this life will receive one of the Father’s eternal rewards.
All who participate in the events of life have the opportunity and ability to receive the highest reward and greatest joy – exaltation and eternal life returning to the presence of the Father and Son.
Perhaps while watching the events at the next Olympics and watching the athletes receive their medals once or twice, we may also think about the much greater eternal “rewards” that are available to all of us who follow the Father’s plan as we participate in the events of life.
— Scott Taylor is editor-in-chief of Church News.
