Catholic Brazilian skater praises Jesus in sign language after winning bronze medal at Olympics

CV NEWS// Brazilian skater Rayssa Leal used sign language to say “Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life” after she won the bronze medal, despite, allegedly, being told she was not allowed to praise Jesus.

Christian Post reports that athletes cannot display any religious symbols due to France’s secularist laws, and the Brazilian news outlet Cara reports that the International Olympic Committee prohibited the message.

Cara reports that Leal explained her choice, saying, “I did it because I do it in every competition. For me it is important, I am Christian, I believe a lot in God. There I asked for strength and sent a message to everyone, that God really is the way, the truth and the life.”

She further explained that she used sign language to make sure she could reach everyone.

“I did it in sign language, because the microphone probably wouldn’t pick up my voice, so it was the way I found to communicate with everyone,” she said. “I think that’s very important.”

Cara also reports that Leal joked about receiving a warning from the International Olympics Committee.

“If I get a warning we’ll find out late,” she said.

Leal is a beloved athlete in Brazil, known as “the fairy” after Tony Hawk shared a video of a 7-year-old Leal doing a heelflip in a blue fairy dress. She became Brazil’s youngest Olympian when she won a silver medal in Tokyo at the age of 13, according to Christian Post.

Leal is not the first Brazilian athlete to face religious intolerance in Paris. According to an X post from news reporter Oli Lond, Brazilian Olympic surfer João Chianca was banned from using a surfboard with the image of Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Christ the Redeemer on it, though the Instagram story where he said he was prohibited from using his surfboard has now been deleted.

Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovik also resisted Paris’s religious freedom rules by displaying the cross around his neck before his first match, saying, “Before I am an athlete, I am an Orthodox Christian.”