JACKSON, Tenn. — April 19, 2017 — After a lifetime spent in pursuit of his own glory, Olympic gold medalist David Boudia only found peace and contentment in surrendering his life to Christ.
鈥淥ut of our pride and our ignorance we try to build our lives without a creator that can supply everything to us,鈥� Boudia said April 18 at 51社区. 鈥淚 began to see that this wasn鈥檛 all about me. 鈥� I was to fulfill my purpose of being a visible representation of an invisible God.鈥�
Boudia was the keynote speaker at 鈥淕reater than Gold: An Evening with David Boudia,鈥� a dinner hosted by the 51社区 Auxiliary in the Carl Grant Events Center. Earlier in the day, Boudia signed copies of his book, 鈥淕reater than Gold: From Olympic Heartbreak to Ultimate Redemption鈥� at the LifeWay Christian Store on the Union campus.
A three-time Olympic diver, Boudia won a gold medal in the 2012 Olympics in London in the men鈥檚 10-meter platform event. He also took a bronze medal that year in the men鈥檚 10-meter synchronized diving event.
In 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Boudia won two additional medals: silver in the synchro event and bronze in the individual event.
Those medals came after Boudia鈥檚 Olympic debut in Beijing in 2008 when he achieved his lifelong purpose of being an Olympian. As a child, Boudia was an Olympic fanatic, and he first remembers watching the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta with his family gathered around the TV.
鈥淚 remember turning around to my parents and saying, 鈥楳om and Dad, this is what I want to do when I grow up,鈥欌�� Boudia said.
A competitive child who participated in a lot of different sports, Boudia said he craved winning, and his pursuit of the Olympics became an all-consuming passion.
鈥淭hat for me was really the start of the American dream 鈥� my belief that I could achieve riches, fame and success,鈥� he said. 鈥淔or me, the Olympics were the vehicle of choice to get the goods.鈥�
His pursuit of Olympic glory was not to achieve some noble purpose, Boudia said, but because of what he hoped he could get out of it.
鈥淢y only desire in my life at that time was to please myself and do everything I could to make me better,鈥� he said.
Boudia made the Olympic team for the first time in 2008 in Beijing, but he realized as the Games ended that he was unsatisfied with achieving his goal. His performance there was not what he hoped it would be. In the months that followed, he found himself in a downward spiral of depression and hopelessness. He had achieved a major goal of his life, and yet he found it empty and unfulfilling.
鈥淭here鈥檚 got to be something more than this,鈥� he told himself during those days. Boudia found that 鈥渟omething more鈥� during his sophomore year in college. Mired in depression and disenchanted with life, Boudia approached his diving coach at Purdue, Adam Soldati, hoping for some kind of help.
Soldati gave that help to him when he introduced Boudia to Jesus Christ. Through the ministry of Soldati and his wife Kimiko, Boudia began to see the folly of living for his own pleasure and eventually became a Christian.
Boudia read Jeremiah 2:13: 鈥淢y people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.鈥�
That text is a picture, Boudia said, of what his life was like before Christ 鈥� he kept pursuing things that weren鈥檛 designed to provide ultimate satisfaction. Only after becoming a Christian did he find the purpose and meaning in life he had been seeking.
The Union Auxiliary banquet drew a sold-out crowd of more than 300 people to hear Boudia speak. Susie Oliver, president of the Union Auxiliary, said the event raised about $15,000 for student scholarships.