VANCOUVER — Listening to the
music of Christian music artist Misty Edwards as she competed in the finals,
U.S. snowboarder Kelly Clark won a bronze medal in the women’s halfpipe event
Feb. 18 in Vancouver.
“It was a tough final,” Clark said. “I couldn’t be happier.”
Photo by David G. McIntyre/Genesis Photos For U.S. snowboarder Kelly Clark, a poor first run in the halfpipe finals “put the pressure on for the second run,” which she turned into a bronze medal performance at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. |
Clark recounted that “a lot of us went down after the first run and that put
the pressure on for the second run,” in which she posted a score of 42.2, just
behind her U.S. teammate, Hannah Teter, who posted a 42.4 score.
Australia’s
Torah Bright won the gold with a score of 45.
Clark won gold in the halfpipe in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City and
finished fourth in 2006 in Turin.
Earlier in the day, U.S. speedskater Rebekah Bradford finished 29th in the
women’s 1000 meters with a time of 1:18.778, a mark with which she was
disappointed.
“Thank you for your prayers and support,” Bradford wrote on Twitter. “Not too
happy with my performance, but now is family time. God bless!”
Also on Thursday, British skeleton racer Adam Pengilly completed the first two
runs in his competition, with the final two heats coming the night of Feb. 19.
Pengilly was in 20th place after the first two heats.
Pengilly says he goes about his work as any Christian should: working for the
Lord.
“Working hard at it, but keeping it in perspective of trying to do it for Him,
which can be difficult when you’re enveloped in a 24/7 environment of sport,”
Pengilly said. “Your life can become quite blinkered around that if you’re not
careful. There’s also the danger that it can become an idol as well.
“Bearing those things in mind, I try to work as hard as I can at skeleton,
keeping it in the right perspective of trying to do it for God and not for me.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Ellsworth, director of news and media relations at Union
University in Jackson, Tenn., is covering the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver for
Baptist Press.)