An American long-distance runner who stunned the sports world by winning a gold medal within the 1500-meter run in Paris on Tuesday said his faith in God guided him down the stretch. Cole Hocker of the United States shocked the favorites to win the boys’s 1500 in a private best and Olympic record time of three minutes, 27.65 seconds, passing Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway after which Josh Kerr of Great Britain in the ultimate 100 meters to cross the finish line first.
The pre-race hype focused solely on the rivalry between defending Olympic champion Ingebrigtsen and 2023 world champion Kerr, allowing Hocker to overshadow each in front of a roaring crowd. Kerr won silver, while American Yared Nuguse took bronze.
It was the race of his life for Hocker, who finished sixth on the Tokyo Games and seventh on the 2023 World Championship.
“I just saw, obviously, Kerr and Ingebrigtsen just battling, sort of having their very own battle. And I knew that in my head, that they were so focused on one another,” Hocker told NBC.
Needing a lane to pass, Hocker finally found one to Ingebrigtsen’s left.
“It opened up. And I just let God carry me through the finish line,” he said.
Crossing the finish line, “I just had the vivid considered how my life just modified, and I can’t even process that right away,” he said.
He is the fourth American ever to win gold within the 1500. The Associated Press labeled it the “upset of the Games.”
OH MY, COLE HOCKER 😱
He pulls off the upset within the 1500m in Olympic record time!
📺: @NBCOlympics & @peacock #ParisOlympics
pic.twitter.com/6LK9PkRSMJ— Team USA (@TeamUSA) August 6, 2024
A product of the University of Oregon, Hocker told The Criterion newspaper in 2021 that “the rationale I run is because I even have a God-given talent.”
“I just feel God has given me the gift of running, and my job is to present it my best,” he said. “On top of that, because I’ve been provided that, I would like to reap the benefits of it. And it’s more gratifying due to how hard I even have worked.”
Hocker is vocal about his faith on social media. Last fall, he posted a Bible verse on his Instagram account.
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“‘Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, every time you face trials of many kinds because that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work in order that chances are you’ll be mature and complete, not lacking anything’ James 1:2-4. … Walking away from this yr happy with what I’ve done and aware of what I’m able to.”
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Steph Chambers/Staff
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of religion and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
