On the track, Noelle Pikus Pace sprinted, dove headfirst onto a “cookie sheet” and rocketed 90 mph down ice. Off the track, she learned to kneel, covenant, and trust God with outcomes she couldn’t control.
In a recent Church News podcast, the Olympic medalist, inspirational speaker, author, wife and mother reflected on a journey that included a devastating accident, a 2010 Olympic near miss by one-tenth of a second and a family-first comeback culminating in a 2014 silver medal — all framed around her faith in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
She explained that many saw the Olympic moment and the podium, but that for her it was a journey of sacrifice, struggle, emotion and joy. “I had to struggle through those valleys before I could see the vista.”
‘Healing does come’
The lowest valley came just as her dream seemed certain. Ranked number one in the world entering the 2006 Olympic trials, Pikus Pace was struck by an out-of-control bobsled that shattered her leg — and her path to Turin, Italy.
“There was this time in my life where I had to say, ‘Heavenly Father, I thought this is where I was supposed to be. I thought this is what You wanted me to do,” she recalled, adding: “It takes time to heal, whether it’s physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally — but with the Lord by our side, that healing does come.”
As she returned to competition, her prayer shifted from insisting on an outcome to submitting to God’s shaping. “We can have faith, but if we don’t have courage to act on that faith, where does that put us? And by having courage to say, ‘Heavenly Father, oh, I trust You, and I’m going to put my life in Your hands,’ He was able to make something even more beautiful than I could have imagined.”
Relief after fourth place
Four years later in Vancouver, the result that millions remember for its tenth-of-a-second margin is, to her, a lesson in identity and perspective. After her fourth and final run flashed “four” beside her name, she felt something surprising.
“I just remember feeling relief,” she said, adding: “I wanted it to be over before it began.”
She expressed feeling torn, “I wanted so desperately to be with my daughter and my husband. … Every time I was competing I wanted to be home, and every time I was home I felt like I should be competing.”
She felt the need to step away, learned how to be present at home and sought God’s direction anew.
Coming back — as a covenant-keeping family
The decision to return for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, grew out of a shared desire with her husband, Janson, to do it together. “We’re only doing this if we can do this as a family, so that we can show those really good, wholesome family values and share those with the world.”
During that period, she drew strength from leaders’ counsel. As a stake Young Women president, she began wearing her Young Woman medallion again after a leadership message about letting youth “see who you are and where your sights are set.”
“It taught me to live … without excuses,” she said, adding: “God wants a powerful people. He wants us to be strong and capable and use our talents for good.”
Her simple prayer before the final run in Sochi captured her discipleship: “First, last, middle, crash — whatever happens, Thy will be done. Help me know what to say … so that I can be a light and live up to the potential that You can see in me.”
Youth later told her they recognized their fellow Latter-day Saint on TV because they of her necklace.
“I had no idea,” she said, adding: “I didn’t need to say what I planned to say, but Heavenly Father was guiding my life all along.”
Jesus Christ has helped her through every moment. “I need the Savior by my side,” she said.
Finding her true identity
Pikus Pace acknowledged the identity crisis many athletes — and many disciples in changing seasons — feel. She referenced the late President Russell M. Nelson’s teachings on our three-core identities: child of God, child of the covenant and disciple of Jesus Christ.
“In knowing that I am a daughter of God, it helps me to strive to keep my covenants each and every day, and in keeping my covenants each and every day, I know that my path can’t go wrong,” she said. “I know that … everything is going to be OK, and it’s going to be better than OK.”
