Barnabas Ministries UK

                 Katya with Olympic Tean

ONE WAY FOR WORLD CLASS SKIER

Katya Antonuk grew up in a part of Russia where there was snow eight months of the year. It was almost inevitable that she would become a cross-country skier. She came second in the first competition she entered, and never looked back. When she left school to study in Belarus and was selected for their national team.

She was champion of Belarus 7 times (1991-98), competed in several world Cups and the 1998 Olympics in Nagano where she was in the Women’s 15 K cross country and the women’s 4×5 cross-country relay. She recalls: “The Olympics is like nothing you can describe. It is one great celebration. It is the culmination of your career – all the hard work, effort and training to get there. The whole atmosphere in the Olympic village and meeting athletes from other countries was really exciting. It was an unforgettable experience and it means a lot to me even now that I was able to compete in the Olympics”.

“There are great pressures – having spent so many years of effort just to get there. The expectations of your team and country and your own expectations, the coach is under pressure and passes that pressure on to the athlete. If your race does not go well everything seems to collapse and you don’t know how to deal with it. As a Christian if I knew I had done all my preparation I could then then I was able just to leave the rest to God”.

Talking of hard work – few athletes work harder than cross-country skiers. “In Russian we call it the ‘Horse sport’. We trained three times per day, doing up to 1,000 kilometre per month and perhaps 8-10’00 k in a year – sometimes 60k in one training run”.

Growing up under atheism Katya knew nothing about God. “We were taught in school that the Bible was myths and legends. I though the only people who believed in a God were old people. Even the graves had communist stars on them, not crosses.

“Once I visited another skier and saw she had a Bible. That was so strange for me as I had never seen a Bible before. I had been taught in school that the Bible was myths and legends. I was surprised that my friend did not know that the Bible was nonsense. She offered to lend a Bible to me . Is aid, ‘No, it is not for me’”.

“But as I got to know her she invited me to a Bible Study. I was surprised how many people were there as I though Christians were just old ladies. I did not expect to see any young people”.

I decided I needed to find out why all these people were so interested in the Bible. I started to read the Bible and it was such a revelation to me. Rather than myths and legends as I knew it was real history about a real God.

“As I read it, God spoke to me through the Bible and gradually my interests and priorities changed. At first it was very difficult as there were no other Christians in the team and I did not know at all how to deal with sport but gradually God showed me”.

At the 1998 Winter Olympics In Japan, Katya met other Christian athletes and sport chaplains. “I found the very idea of Christian ministers in a sport very strange. I understood for the first time that I could use my sport ability together with my faith. In a real sense I found myself there”.

Four years later Katya found herself chaplain at the 2002 Turin Olympics. It was a great experience. “I said to the team, ‘I am there for you – to talk, to listen, to help, to be with you and even to pray for you. I know the stresses you feel because I have been there’”.

Having grown up as an atheist, Katya says now: “Jesus changed my life completely. I don’t know where I would be if it had not happened. I cannot imagine life without God. My life is richer, brighter and has a different quality. I never regretted not for a single moment my decision to follow Jesus”,