The End of the Pursuit of Myself with Olympic Diver David Boudia [Episode 8]

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In this episode, Laura chats with fellow Olympic platform diver David Boudia. A former gymnast, David transitioned to diving when he was 11 and his long held Olympic dreams began to become tangible. At age 19 he went to his first Olympics in Beijing. Unfortunately, he didn’t perform as he had hoped and returned feeling empty after an experience that failed to fulfill him. He headed to Purdue University and fell into patterns of negative thinking and destructive choices. He found himself deep in depression, to the point of considering suicide.

Thankfully, Boudia was able to reach out to his coach who, along with his wife, began to mentor and support him. In the following months, David was able to focus on his spiritual life; this faith in God radically changed his sense of purpose, direction, and identity. He was able to go back to competition with the understanding that how he performed held no bearing over who he was. At the 2016 Olympic Games David shares that he “was a completely different person” and winning gold at those games gave him a platform to share openly about his faith.

Boudia now looks forward to the 2020 Olympics with the same selfless mentality. He took a short break from diving and considered retirement, but eventually returned. An accident from the 10m platform has led him to try out the 3m springboard event instead, and this change has renewed his love for the sport.

Learn more here: https://www.hopesports.org/the-end-of-the-pursuit-of-myself/

For more about our host visit www.laurawilkinson.com and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

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