No one can say for certain if swimming superstar Katie Ledecky will win a fistful of medals at the Paris Olympics. But she will surely pray before her races, do charitable works after the Games and continue to hold her Catholic faith close to her heart. 

Her strong faith and humility are the cornerstones of her character, the nun who was her grade-school principal at Little Flower School in Bethesda, Maryland, told Catholic News Agency. Ledecky burst onto the scene by unexpectedly winning a gold medal as a 15-year-old at the 2012 London Games and has since won six other gold medals. She prays before events, has advocated for refugees and serves meals to the homeless.  

Ledecky told the Register in 2016 that she often prays a Hail Mary before her races: “It gives me peace knowing I’m in good hands.” 

“I think our devotion to Mary is very beautiful,” Ledecky added. “She has a sacred role in Catholicism, and her strong faith and humility are things we can learn from.” 

Faith is her anchor. 

“I think the beauty of Catholicism is its consistency through both successes and difficulties,” she said in 2016. “I’ve counted on my faith to give me strength through both training and competition — but also in school, with my family and everyday life. So while my goals in the pool have changed, my faith remains something that’s consistent and something I can always rely on.” 

Ledecky is one of more than 100 U.S. athletes competing in Paris who are Catholic or attended Catholic schools — among the more than 10,000 athletes from 206 countries expected to compete in 32 different sports through Aug. 11. They range from the well-known and highly celebrated, such as hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, gymnast Simone Biles and WNBA stalwarts Jackie Young and Jewell Loyd, both of whom played at Notre Dame, to relative unknowns such as rower Michael Grady, a graduate of Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, and sisters Juliette and Isabella Whittaker, middle-distance runners who graduated from Mount de Sales Academy in Catonsville, Maryland. 

Like Ledecky, many of them relied on their faith during the grueling U.S. Olympic trials to qualify for Paris as well as amid the everyday tribulations faced by world-class athletes. The pressure and intensity of high-stakes athletics led them to question and clarify their most cherished values and ultimate goals. For some, even those who stand on the gold-medal podium, competing and winning, however satisfying, has proven to be less important than their relationship with God. 

Ledecky is competing in Paris alongside two fellow alumnae of Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, an all-girls Catholic school in Bethesda. Swimmers Phoebe Bacon and Erin Gemmell also made the Olympics team. School officials have praised the graduates for their character and leadership. 

For her part, Biles is back competing in Paris after her Tokyo silver and bronze medals following “the twisties,” a loss of muscle memory that sidelined her from four events. Biles has said she is “pro-choice” on social media — but she has also spoken of her faith, from Sunday Mass attendance to seeking the intercession of St. Sebastian, the patron saint of athletes. 

Other notable U.S. Olympians who are Catholic or attended Catholic schools include beach-volleyball player Kristen Nuss, a graduate of Mount Carmel Academy in New Orleans; volleyball players Thomas Jaeschke and Jeff Jendryk, graduates of Loyola University Chicago (Jendryk attended St. Francis High School in Wheaton, Illinois); decathlete Heath Baldwin, an alumnus of Hackett Central Catholic in Kalamazoo, Michigan; long-distance runner Karissa Schweizer, a graduate of Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, Iowa, and rower Meghan Musnicki, a four-time Olympian who grew up attending St. Januarius Church in Naples, New York.  

At the Games, for Mass or counsel, they can turn to a former Olympian who understands the pressures of competition: Father Joseph Fitzgerald, one of 40 chaplains at the Games. The pastor of St. William the Abbot Church in Seaford, New York, he competed in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta for the U.S. handball team. 

Father Fitzgerald is saying Mass, hearing confessions and available for athletes who need a sympathetic ear during the Games, as he knows the Olympian heart, as Father Fitzgerald told the Register ahead of the start of the Games on Register Radio, adding that his family went to Mass before sporting events on Sunday. 

“We can almost make God a coach instead of God our beloved Father,” he admitted, adding that he wants this to be the takeaway for athletes: 

“The ultimate race is this relationship … being present and sitting with the Lord, knowing that you’re a beloved daughter and son of God whether you win the gold or finish in last place.” 

Too often, “we base our identity in athletics on our success, whether we win a gold medal or not,” he also told Newsday. “The hope is to provide space for those who can allow for their identity as beloved sons and daughters of God, not just if they are gold medal winners.” 

Indeed, Catholic religious leaders see the Games as an opportunity to spread and strengthen the faith. The Catholic bishops of France are calling the Olympics the “Holy Games,” and they initiated a project to encourage the nearly 11,000 athletes and millions of visitors to Paris to seek holiness and promote brotherhood through sports. Father Fitzgerald highlighted the “Holy Games” kickoff at St. Denis Basilica on Register Radio. 

Father Jason Nioka, a French priest based in Paris who was just ordained this summer, is leading the largest contingent of chaplains. Father Nioka, who is a former judo champion, spoke with EWTN News In Depth host Catherine Hadro about the faith outreach to athletes.  

“I think the athletes do not need to hear something special. The first mission of the chaplain is just to listen to the athletes,” he told Hadro. “We know that the Olympics, it’s maybe a very stressful moment for them. …. But if we will give them the word of hope and strength, maybe this would help them to give the best and to be the best athlete during the Olympics.” 

Also on hand in Paris as a Catholic presence to athletes are four members of a Varsity Catholic missionary team. Varsity Catholic, which ministers to college athletes, is an offshoot of Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS). 

Few Olympics athletes at Paris personify the spiritual quest often overshadowed by the chase for medals better than Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, a graduate of Union Catholic High School in Scotch Plains, New Jersey. She won the 400-meters hurdles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and broke her own world record in June in qualifying for the race for the Paris Games. But her climb to the top was riddled with anxiety and fear. 

“Fear had always supercharged my conscience,” she writes in her 2024 memoir, Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith. Even at a young age, “I was terrified of losing, of having failure attached to me.” Overwhelmed by fear, she almost pulled out of the 2016 Olympics trials as a “terrified 16-year-old.” 

It has taken years, but, over time, through prayer and persistence, “God delivered me from the anxiety of failing,” she writes. “Christ saved me. He taught me that my identity is in Him, not in my achievements, relationships, words or physical features. … It’s not about what medals I win. It’s about glorifying God.” 

Today, she is a member of Grace Community Church in Los Angeles with her husband, Andre Levrone Jr., a wide receiver for the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens. She credits her Catholic education for deepening her faith, and the nun who was her high-school principal has hailed her for her being “a beacon of faith and excellence.” 

For McLaughlin-Levrone, as for many of the athletes in Paris, the Olympics creed — not the triumph but the struggle — carries a powerful spiritual resonance.