English Gardner Praises Jesus in Her Journey From Being Told She Could Never Run, to Running in the Rio Olympics 2016

English Gardner
English Gardner attributes her talent in sports to God, who was with her through all the battles in life. |

Olympic sprinter English Gardner is all excited about Rio de Janeiro. After she qualified for the games after winning the 100-meter dash for the US Track and Field Trials last month, she could not stop praising Jesus.

As she crossed the line, looking towards her coach, she imitated the gesture of eating, after which she fell on her knees, bursting out, "Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Oh, God I praise you. I give you so much glory," all the while beating her hand on the ground.

Gardner's praise video was posted by NBC Olympics on Facebook, which received over 1.5 million views and over 20,000 shares.

About eight years ago, Gardner thought she will not be able to run again after she sustained a knee injury that torn her anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligament while playing football in high school. She was told that she will not be able to run again or compete in games.

After her injury, all colleges withdrew their scholarships except the University of Oregon, where she won five NCAA championships, and began to renew her strength.

In 2012, she came seventh in the field trials for Olympics. Gardner has been through her struggles, but she says that everything has a purpose.

"I think that's what Christianity is all about, going through the highs and lows with God and experiencing everything that he has to offer and being able to share your story because people relate to stories," Gardner said.

Daughter of a pastor, the 24-year-old sprinter said that she grew up listening that "God can lead you," and that "prayer is real."

"And so it definitely was an overwhelming moment to be able to see God's miracle right in front of your eyes and him actually use you and you be the vessel that he chose, and I'm definitely not perfect, but he found it fit that I was deserving of it, and I'm just very humble in that," Gardner said.