The Last Duel’ Review: A Medieval Epic in the Age of #MeToo

At this point everyone knows I am a sucker for anything having to do with the Templar Knights, or even anything from that time period. 

So I have to put up a quick post about the 2021 film "The Last Duel." 

For one reason or another I was never able to get to the theater to see it when it was out and I wish I had, it would have been cool to see on the big screen. Let this be a lesson, if you ever think something might look cool on the big screen do what you have to do to get there and see it, otherwise you will be kicking yourself in the fanny for missing it like I am now. 

But, I have now watched it a few times on BluRay and I love it. I've begged my wife a few times to watch it with me but she hasn't, probably for two reasons. First, she can't stand Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, lol. Why, I don't know but she has never liked those two. And secondly, probably because the film is rated R. 

And I know, I really shouldn't be watching rated R movies either, but I guess it is just one of my weaknesses. (Also, how can I pass up a movie about knights fighting it out, I used to dress up and pretend I was a knight when I was a kid. And my paternal grandmother's maiden name was Knight, so I am decended from knights.)

Plus, there is a little Templar twist at the end that I wasn't expecting so it just put a cherry on top of a film I already really enjoyed. 

-‘The Last Duel’ Review: A Medieval Epic in the Age of #MeToo -

Ridley Scott and his all-star cast rip the moldy fig leaf off chivalric romance in a he-said, he-said, she-said spectacle.

(nytimes.com October 13, 2021)

It’s no surprise that Ridley Scott, who’s made his share of swaggering manly epics, has directed what may be the big screen’s first medieval feminist revenge saga. In addition to his love for men with mighty swords, Scott has an affinity for tough women, women who are prickly and difficult and thinking, not bodacious cartoons. They’re invariably lovely, of course, but then everything in Ridley Scott’s dream world has an exalted shimmer.

Even the mud and blood gleam in “The Last Duel,” an old-style spectacle with a #MeToo twist. Based on the fascinating true story of a lady, a knight and a squire in 14th-century France, the story was big news back in the day and has been retrofitted to contemporary sensibilities by Scott and an unusual troika of screenwriters: Nicole Holofcener and two of the movie’s stars, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Together, they tear the moldy fig leaf off a Hollywood staple, the Arthurian-style romance — with its chivalric code, knightly virtues and courtly manners — to reveal a mercenary, transactional world of men, women and power. The result is righteously anti-romantic.

Damon, uglied up with slashing facial scars and a comically abject mullet, plays Jean de Carrouges, a nobleman down on his luck who makes ends meet by fighting on behalf of the king. The machinations start early and soon go into overdrive after he marries a younger woman, Marguerite (Jodie Comer), who brightens his life but doesn’t do much for his sour disposition or unfortunate grooming. Vainglorious and petty, his lips screwed into a pucker, Jean settles down with Marguerite but seethes over his friend turned antagonist, Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver, a juiced-up Basil Rathbone), a social climber aligned with Count Pierre, a licentious power player (Affleck, in debauched glory).

It’s a juicy lineup of familiar characters who are greedier and pettier than those that usually populate historical epics. But there is no noblesse oblige or courtly love, no dragons, witchy women or aggrandizing British accents. Instead, there are debts, grudges, fights, liaisons, an occasional naked nymph and men endlessly jockeying for position. Jean marries Marguerite to boost his prestige and wealth; Jacques enriches himself by currying favor with Pierre. For her part, Marguerite is passed from father to husband, who later, in a startling moment, commands her to kiss Jacques in public as evidence of Jean’s resumed good will toward his frenemy. It’s a catastrophic gesture.

The story’s action is visceral and relentless; the atmosphere gray and thick with intrigue. Scott likes to throw a lot on the screen — the movie churns with roaring men, galloping horses, shrieking minions — which can clutter up a story but here creates insistent momentum. This churn throws the quieter bits into relief, giving you room to breathe and the characters time to scheme. These lulls also allow the filmmakers to lay out some of the brute details of everyday life in the Middle Ages, even for a noble like Jean who slogs off to war for money. In this world of homosocial relations, men continually and often violently negotiate their place among other men, and always for gain.

The script is solid, shrewd and fairly faithful to its source material, Eric Jager’s nonfiction page-turner “The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal and Trial by Combat.” The crime in question was the alleged rape in 1386 of the wife of one noble by another of lesser rank. Her husband presented the case to Charles VI, demanding the right to a judicial duel, or trial by combat. If the husband wins it ostensibly proves the truth of his claim, a.k.a. God’s will. Die or yield, he is guilty; if he survives, he will be hanged, and his wife burned alive. As Jager emphasizes, rape was a crime in medieval Europe, even punishable by death, but it wasn’t a crime against the woman but her male guardian.

Jager gives the three figures at the center of this drama their due, although, like the medieval text that inspired him, his account is weighted toward the dueling noblemen. The movie tries to more emphatically foreground Marguerite by making her a relatively equal participant in her own tragedy. It does this on a structural level by dividing the story into chapters and placing her version of events alongside those of the two men: he said, he said, she said. This splitting evokes “Rashomon,” in which various characters narrate the same crime — also a rape — from conflicting points of view, creating a sense of relative truth. But there’s no such ambiguity in “The Last Duel.”

Rape as a plot device has a long, grotesque history; it’s useful for metaphors and shocks but rarely has anything to do with women, their bodies or pain. In presenting Marguerite’s point of view — everything shifts meaningfully in her version, including how she sees her husband and the assault — “The Last Duel” seeks to upend that tradition. It doesn’t fully succeed and the movie still leans toward the men, their actions and stratagems. Partly this is a problem of history. As a 14th-century woman, Marguerite is bred to acquiesce and, for the most part, is acted upon rather than acts. While the movie is feminist in intent and in meaning, and though she’s given narrative time, she remains frustratingly opaque, without the inner life to balance the busily thrashing men.

“The Last Duel” works best as an autopsy of corrosive male power, which creates a certain amount of unresolved tension given how much Scott enjoys putting that power on display, including during the duel. The movie is weirdly entertaining, but the world it presents, despite its flourishes of comedy, is cold, hard and unforgiving. Few come out looking good, not the antagonists or giggly king (Alex Lawther), the conniving clergyman or Jean’s unsympathetic mother (Harriet Walter), a proxy for every woman who’s ever told other women to shut up and take it. Marguerite didn’t, but however blurrily history remembers her, she made her mark with a vengeance.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/13/movies/the-last-duel-review.html

Joseph Smith and Our Preparation for the Lord’s Final Judgment - Essays by George L. Mitton

With a personal tribute by his son John and a foreword by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw

Published by The Interpreter Foundation and Eborn Books

Joseph Smith and Our Preparation for the Lord’s Final Judgment: Essays by George L. Mitton is a volume of tribute to an esteemed Latter-day Saint scholar which assembles four significant articles that offer much guidance for our preparation to meet the Lord at the veil, and at His Final Judgment:

The Crucifixion as a Mockery, Witness, and Warning of Judgment

The Book of Mormon as a Resurrected Book and a Type of Christ

Joseph Smith at the Veil: Significant Ritual, Symbolism, and Temple Influence at Latter-day Saint Beginnings

Joseph Smith and the Magical Contest

Adding to the interest is Mitton’s preface, which describes the way inspiration, writing, and life experiences came together to provide the genesis of these essays. In addition, a personal tribute is offered by Mitton’s son John as well as a foreword by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw.

https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/joseph-smith-and-our-preparation-for-the-lords-final-judgment/

Church continues to expand resources for those with gospel questions

The Church’s efforts to help individuals find answers to gospel questions continue to expand within the Gospel Library

(thechurchnews.com August 17, 2024)

 At the end of 2023, the Church renamed its Gospel Topics within the Gospel Library to be Gospel Topics and Questions. This section of Gospel Library — both on ChurchofJesusChrist.org and in the mobile app — has been updated regularly with new content for the better part of the last decade.

Since June, five new topics have been added to the site. And Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has shared ways the content found in the updated site can help build faith and testimonies, in a video published on the Church’s website and YouTube channel.

According to its landing page, Gospel Topics and Questions is meant to help individuals “find information on Church doctrine, policies, practices, history and more.”

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/learn?lang=eng

Elder Renlund’s video message is now included as the introduction to this resource.

“The Church has compiled a wonderful, trustworthy resource for individuals seeking answers to their own questions and for others who are striving to help them,” Elder Renlund says in the video.

New to this resource in the past couple of months is a section called Church and Gospel Questions. This is now where the link to each topic within Topics and Questions is found.

The five new topics added to that list are:

Origins of the Book of Abraham.

Multiple Accounts of the First Vision.

The Only True and Living Church.

The Role of Prophets.

Transparency About Church History.

This list of topics now has 232 topics that can help answer individuals’ questions about matters ranging from the Aaronic Priesthood to Zion. These same topics are often referred to in the Church’s “Come, Follow Me” curriculum.

“Our goal is to help strengthen faith in Jesus Christ, even as we provide some suggestions for how to navigate complex and sometimes difficult topics,” Elder Renlund said.

Even as the list of topics covered continues to grow, Elder Renlund said it is important to know that not every question can be answered right now. Part of finding answers involves faith.

“For faith to grow, we have to have faith,” he said. “Then, we must act in faith and hold fast to what we know. As we do, we deepen our understanding of and faith in Jesus Christ.”

He added that Heavenly Father’s plan for His children can help them see what is most important.

“Some answers will have to wait for further revelation,” he said. “God’s plan of salvation provides perspective for our questions. That perspective helps us distinguish core gospel truths from things that are not as essential.”

A letter was sent out from the Church’s Priesthood and Family Department on Thursday, Aug. 15, to stake, mission and district presidencies; bishoprics and branch presidencies; and members of stake and ward councils.

This letter says the Topics and Questions can help individuals strengthen their faith because the collection:

Provides faithful responses to commonly asked questions.

Gives responses in a simple question-and-answer format and includes links to resources where readers can learn more.

Includes guiding principles to assist those who are seeking answers and those helping others who have questions.

The letter also says, “Members are encouraged to use these resources as part of their personal gospel study.”

Individuals can navigate to these resources from ChurchofJesusChrist.org by clicking on Libraries and then Topics and Questions. Those using the Gospel Library app can access them by clicking on Library and then Topics and Questions.

https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2024/08/17/church-expands-resources-gospel-questions-topics-answers/

Dr. Dan Peterson | The Greatest Witnesses for the Book of Mormon

I only had about 10 minutes this morning to watch. Can't wait to finish it up tonight.

‘We had to know more’: Family from Florida joins the Church after meeting members while camping in Utah

(ldsliving.com 8-8-24)

In 1974, Tom and Jackie Montoya, their four daughters—Pam, Cyndy, Terry, and Tricia—and Terry’s boyfriend, Ferrell, left on an extended camping vacation to Utah from their home in Florida. The family of avid campers looked forward to exploring new trails, but what they didn’t know is that one of those trails in the middle of the Utah desert would lead them to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

An Unspoken Desire

Before leaving for Utah, Tom recalls a passing thought he had: “It would be great if we could run into somebody that would take us in tow and show us the backcountry.”

Two weeks into their trip, that unspoken desire was fulfilled. Tom describes the moment: “As we traveled a jeep trail through Bears Ears and Natural Bridges National Monument, we pulled up behind a group of people waiting at an intersection. I walked up to the group and asked, ‘Is there someplace we can camp up here?’ One in the group said, ‘You can camp anywhere, but you need to know where the water is.’”

As Tom thanked them for the information and turned to leave, one of the men broke away from the group and generously invited the family with the modified Chevrolet Blazer and Florida license plate to join them, explaining that they were just a group of “Mormon” families from Provo enjoying the weekend. The Montoyas then followed their new friends to their campsite a few miles up the mountains.

The Montoya family remembers nothing but kindness from these Utah families. Tricia, the youngest Montoya daughter, recalls, “Even as a 12-year-old, I was intrigued that a group of people who had an established relationship would welcome total strangers to join them on their weekend camping trip.”

“We were just so impressed with the way they treated us and the way they treated each other that we had to know more,” Tom says. “The rest of the week and a half that we had before we had to get back to Florida, that’s all we could talk about. It was absolutely the highlight of the whole trip.”

No Accident

After a couple of days together, the Montoyas and the Provo group said their goodbyes and parted ways—but not for long. While Tom took the car in for some repairs before the family’s return trip to Florida, Jackie and their soon-to-be-high-school-graduate daughter, Cyndy, took a tour of Brigham Young University at the invitation of one of their new friends.

“As we were walking around campus, I knew, with complete certainty, that this is where I wanted to attend college,” Cyndy recalls.

For various reasons, Tom and Jackie were initially hesitant about their daughter applying to BYU. But Cyndy’s determination prevailed. Tom asked a Latter-day Saint coworker to write a letter of recommendation for his daughter, which ultimately led the Montoyas to begin lessons with the missionaries and Cyndy to be accepted to BYU.

Both then and now, everyone involved in that camping trip attests that the families’ meeting was no accident. Scot Johnson, the son of one of the Provo couples recalls: “This chance meeting at the intersection of two nondescript dirt roads at the foot of the Blue Mountains near Blanding, Utah, was anything but a chance meeting. Tom had chosen the right road.”

Tom agrees the meeting was divinely orchestrated. “I knew it then and I know it even more so now because of what has taken place since. Ten minutes one way there or the other, we would not have met. That was planned from the beginning. I know it for sure.”

“There is no doubt that our Heavenly Father knows us and that He is in the smallest details of our lives,” Tricia adds. “I know that it was not by chance that we met those families where we did and when we did.”

“I have a testimony of sharing the gospel by just living it,” the Montoya’s oldest daughter, Pam, says. “Don’t ever underestimate the power of being a good example! You never know when you might be the answer to someone’s silent prayer.”

Paths to Conversion

Seven months after their camping trip and meeting regularly with missionaries in Florida, Tom, Jackie, and Tricia were baptized and confirmed members of the Church.

Tricia remembers the good feeling in her home when the missionaries came to visit: “It was a feeling I did not want to be without. I was eager to follow my parent’s lead and was the first to shout, ‘YES!’ when the elders asked if we would be interested in being baptized.”

Religion had been an important part of Tom and Jackie’s life, and for Tom, the Church filled in some of the gaps in his Methodist beliefs.

“We’d been associated with good people before, but nothing like this,” Tom recalls. “I finally realized it was simply the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Tom and Jackie were sealed in the Washington D.C. Temple one year and 10 days after their baptisms during a stake temple trip.

Tricia likewise remembers something different about these Latter-day Saints from Provo. “Their friendship and sharing the gospel by living it impressed me, to the extent that living the gospel and sharing it by example has always been a core part of my testimony.”

Though she was accepted to BYU as a non-member, Cyndy was also baptized five months before attending college, where her testimony flourished.

For Pam and Terry, however, the decision to join the Church came more slowly. Pam decided to apply to BYU, in part to avoid the increasing feeling of pressure to get baptized like her parents and in part because she had a sister already there. But it wasn’t long after arriving that her heart changed, and she, too, decided to be baptized.

Pam is grateful for the support her Utah friends showed her on that special day. “The classroom on campus that had a baptismal font was filled to capacity with members of the branch and many of those families that we had met in southern Utah that summer of 1974,” she recalls. “I dare say that there was not a dry eye in the group!”

As for Terry, it wasn’t until she and Ferrell got married a few years after that camping trip that she began to feel something was missing. Noticing, in particular, the improved relationship she had with her father since his baptism and the happiness her parents seemed to have, she eventually decided to get baptized, as did Ferrell.

“Over the years, our family had our fair share of trials, and when I look back, I can see Heavenly Father’s hand in them,” she says. “The blessings we received help us through those trials. Divine intervention glowed, and I knew exactly where it came from each time.”

The Montoya family’s conversion has not only impacted them but also their Provo friends. Mark Johnson, who was serving a mission at the time, remembers reading about the story of his family meeting the Montoyas and the Montoya family’s conversion in his father’s letters.

And Mark’s younger sister, Joani, who was on the camping trip with all their family friends has shared the story many times along with her testimony that “you never know who is noticing you, and you can influence them for good or bad.”

50 Years Later

Over the years, the Montoya family has remained close. With the 50th anniversary of their camping trip approaching, now 90-year-old Tom wanted to hold an extra special family reunion to celebrate.

With help from his daughters and Mark and Joani’s brother, Scot, Tom planned a large celebration in June 2024. The gathering included not only members of his own family but also surviving members of the Provo families.

Tricia recalls how special it was to see the reunion come to fruition after watching her father plan and prepare for it for over a year. Pam says, “It was nothing short of a miracle that all 78 members of our family were able to attend this 50th anniversary gathering.”

It was a special time for family and friends alike. “When I saw Tom Montoya and introduced myself, we hugged and tears flowed,” Joani says. “Meeting Tom at 90 years old was so incredible.”

Relying on caterers and others to provide the food, tents, and even a toilet trailer, the family was able to spend more time together focusing on the most important things, such as holding a special meeting in the family’s “sacred grove”—the spot that they first met their Provo friends.

“It helped solidify our family even closer, even those that are not on the covenant path,” Tom says. “They were there and glad to be there.”

And though Tom’s intent was not to preach to family members who haven’t remained active in the Church he joined 50 years ago, he did want them to know how important the gospel and family are to him.

“It was important to Tom that his progeny see and experience the spot on this earth that changed the Montoya family’s future forever,” Scot shares.

Unfortunately, Scot was injured in a motorcycle accident on his way to join the special program. He received emergency first aid from medical professionals in the Montoya family and a priesthood blessing before going to the closest emergency room.

Cyndy says that being prepared to help with this medical emergency made the Montoyas grateful that “in a small way, our family was able to give something back to the families who introduced us to our everything.”

Joani remembers the powerful spirit she felt when the meeting continued:

“Tom Montoya bore his testimony to all of us from Utah and all his posterity. It was a special moment up there in the beautiful mountains. Rain clouds were gathering, and thunder was heard. Then we sang ‘I Am a Child of God’ as rain began to fall. But we all just stayed and sang as the Spirit testified.”

The entire week was a beautiful time of reminiscing and reacquainting, and Pam says a sort of “FOMO” settled in as the week drew to a close. “The last few nights of the reunion, more people were staying up later, enjoying each other’s company because it would soon be coming to an end.”

Though the loss of Jackie Montoya, who passed away a little over a year ago, was felt, Terry believes her mother was glad to see this reunion, too. “The fondest memory I have of the reunion was when my granddaughter came up to me and said, ‘You know, Nana, Mommer is here, I can feel her here,’” Terry shares. “For her to recognize that, at the age of 8 years old, made me realize what a blessing it is to have the Church in our lives.”

The Seed That Keeps Growing

Tom and Jackie Montoya’s decision to accept a stranger’s offer to camp with them, and their future decisions to join the Church, have had a lifelong impact on their family. It is something Cyndy has thought about for years:

“What was it about this particular group of people that inspired my parents to make a seismic life change when they were 40? How grateful I am that they had the courage to do that, and then be so completely dedicated to the gospel for the rest of their lives.

“I think it was because our new friends were genuine in their friendship. They didn’t have an agenda, or a plan for converting us. They were just extending real friendship to us, and that continued even after our initial camping trip.”

As for Tom, he is grateful to be enjoying the part of the gospel of Jesus Christ that caught his and his wife’s interest the most: family.

“Everything that we do in the Church leads to one word, and that is ‘family,’” he says. “I was re-reading the conference talks this past April, and the newest apostle, Elder [Patrick Kearon’s] address was that Heavenly Father’s intent was for everyone to return home. And I tell you, that hit me. That’s it—it’s the family. That’s what it’s all about.”

https://www.ldsliving.com/we-had-to-know-more-family-from-florida-joins-the-church-after-meeting-members-while-camping-in-utah/s/12379

Six Days in August Official Trailer

A member in Ivory Coast has become an unbelievably effective missionary—here’s how he does it

(ldsliving.com July 9, 2024)

To quote the poet Edgar Guest, “[Strangers] are friends that we some day may meet.” And one valiant Latter-day Saint convert exemplifies that in everything he does, including sharing the gospel.

“Bishop” Aime Miliaté no longer serves as a bishop in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, but the title has become a nickname.

He worked as a driver for a local cacao company in his hometown until civil war and unrest led him to move to the city of Abidjan in 2004. There, he encountered Latter-day Saint missionaries and learned about the restored gospel.

He was baptized on March 25th, 2005, and his testimony has only continued to grow from there.

“Six months after my baptism, President [Gordon B.] Hinckley invited all the members around the world to read the Book of Mormon. Following President Hinckley’s invitation, my mind began to open, and the message of the Restoration became clearer for me to understand,” Bishop says.

But it was those missionaries’ initial love and interest in him as a person that first piqued his interest.

“My conversion did not begin with the [gospel] teachings. … I was only impressed by the missionaries; I loved their mark of attention towards me.”

And those missionaries probably had no idea how much that “mark of attention” would mean to Bishop. It became a huge focal point in his life and how he now shares the gospel with others.

“I had the desire to one day become a missionary like them,” Bishop says. “Unfortunately, I was already too old to serve a full-time mission. So, I decided to use my gift as a communicator to spread the knowledge I acquired following my conversion.”

Bishop says he invited all his friends and acquaintances to meet with missionaries and come to church with him.

He was later hired as a mission driver for the Côte d’Ivoire Abidjan West Mission, where he became a beloved staff member and, as the mission leaders put it, a “great spirit to have in the office.”

“Bishop is completely friendly and engaging,” Sister London Litchfield, mission leader in the Côte d’Ivoire Abidjan West Mission, shares. “He doesn’t see any boundaries between friendships, which I think is part of what makes him such a great missionary. … Quite frankly, he is an inspiration to us. The missionaries just pray and hope that they get to be in his ward because he’s such an incredible member missionary.”

Since his baptism in 2005, Bishop hasn’t kept count of how many friends and acquaintances he has introduced to the gospel. But several years ago, he set a goal: to help bring three people into the Church every year. And he has done just that—every year, without fail.

This year, he helped teach five people in January alone, so he increased his yearly goal to 10. But it appears he could have aimed higher. As of June, he has helped 13 people join the Church.

He's spoken to many of his family and friends about the gospel already, but Abidjan is a very densely populated city, and his friendly, outgoing nature allows him to strike up a conversation with anyone and everyone—banana vendors, families walking along the streets, or other drivers stuck in traffic with him. And inevitably, his faith in the restored gospel becomes a topic of discussion.

And the one question everyone around him keeps asking: how does he do it?

“I first build a friendship with people I meet in my neighborhood, then as our relationship grows, I introduce them to the gospel.”

Sounds easy enough, right?

“We often think that they’re very difficult conversations to have,” President Wade Litchfield of the Côte d’Ivoire Abidjan West Mission shares. “But they’re not at all scary to him. They’re natural to him. He just personifies what Elder [Dieter F.] Uchtdorf has exhorted us to do in speaking about our religion in ‘natural and normal ways’.”

And Bishop’s advice to young missionaries or anyone for sharing the gospel?

“Don’t be afraid. Show a good example. Be patient and let your love for God and your fellow men be above everything else.”

Like Elder Uchtdorf has said, “If we interact with people with the sole expectation that they soon will don a white jumpsuit and ask for directions to the nearest baptismal font, we’re doing it wrong.

“Fill your heart with love for others. Try to truly see everyone around you as a child of God. … Laugh with them. Rejoice with them. Weep with them. Respect them. Heal, lift, and strengthen them.”

Bishop’s conversations about religion with friends and with strangers—the “friends he may some day meet”—stem from a place of caring. That genuine care for others is just part of his nature. And he may have perfected the most powerful, loving approach to missionary work in putting love, compassion, and a “mark of attention” above all else.

https://www.ldsliving.com/a-member-in-ivory-coast-has-become-an-unbelievably-effective-missionary-heres-how-he-does-it/s/12321

How faith and adversity led Courtney Wayment to the 2024 Paris Olympics

(deseret.com 7-25-24)

Three years ago, Courtney Wayment stood at the starting line of Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, 3,000 meters away from realizing her lifelong Olympic dream.

Over the course of the next 9 1/2 minutes, she worked her way up through the pack of 14 runners competing in the women’s steeplechase final. She ran her fastest race yet, shaving four seconds off the personal best she had set in the first round.

But it wasn’t enough. She finished in fourth place at the 2021 Olympic trials — one spot shy of qualifying for the Olympics.

“I was so close to seeing it,” she said of the Tokyo Games. “When you’re an alternate, you do all the same process that the people that made the team get to do, but you don’t get any of it. You don’t get the gear, you don’t get the flights, you don’t get the opportunity, you don’t get to go.”

Memories of that summer stuck with Wayment over the past three years, fueling her NCAA championship steeplechase title win in 2022 and her performance in last month’s Olympic trials.

“I was like, ‘I’ve been that close. I will make sure I’m not that close again,’” she said. “When you’re so close to achieving your lifelong dream and you watch it run away from you, that doesn’t leave your soul.”

At this year’s Olympic trials, Wayment was a favorite, not a relative unknown. She led for a majority of the final race — until a pack of runners passed her in the final minute.

“For a moment there, some of the women had made their move, and I was back in the fourth position with only less than a minute left in the race. And I was like, ‘I’ve been here before. I’ve watched this movie. I’m OK. I’m not doing that again,’” she said.

Wayment was able to come back from fourth place in the last lap to finish second behind Valerie Constien, the only former Olympian competing in the final, and set a new personal best of 9 minutes, 6.5 seconds, making her the fourth fastest American woman in the steeplechase ever.

Now, the former BYU Cougar is officially an Olympian.

“I’m representing myself, my community, my country and everything at the highest level that I possibly could ever in my passion, my talent and my work place,” she said. “It’s definitely something that I don’t take lightly, and it’s the highest honor that I could ever be given.”

Can Courtney Wayment medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the women’s steeplechase?

Wayment’s time at last month’s Olympic trials would have been enough to medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2012 London Olympics, but she would have just missed the podium in Tokyo, coming in behind Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai (9:01.45), American Courtney Frerichs (9:04.79) and Kenya’s Hyvin Kiyeng (9:05.39).

But to medal this year, she may have to run sub-nine minutes. The top two ranked women steeplechasers — Chemutai and Beatrice Chepkoech — have times of 8:55.09 and 8:55.40, respectively, according to World Athletics. Constien’s 9:03.22 in the final puts her at third.

The first-time Olympian believes she’s capable of breaking the nine-minute barrier but is unsure if that time comes this year.

“I think the goal’s at some point, yes. I mean, I don’t want to put a ceiling or a cap as to what I can do. I think in order to perform the best that I can, that I know that I can, that my training shows that I can, the belief in myself that I can, I think I need to have peace and harmony in all areas of my life,” she said.

Believing in herself — starting in the first round — is key to her winning a medal, Wayment said.

“I think that’s going to be the biggest and most influential thing, is believing in myself and being intentful with how I spend my time leading up to the trials,” she said.

Wayment credits her support system, especially her college and pro coach Diljeet Taylor, for helping her gain such high confidence in herself.

But she also believes her roundabout path to athletic success has played a large role in gaining confidence. Wayment was always a good runner, but she didn’t start off at BYU as one of the best.

In 2016 at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, she finished 153rd as a freshman, and in 2017, she jumped up to 71st, still far from the top, she admits.

But by the time she left BYU, she was a four-time NCAA champion and eight-time All American.

“I think my journey has been so unique in the sense that I didn’t have the immediate success that I know some other athletes have had, and I think that has contributed a lot to believing in myself and knowing that, ‘Hey, I might not be there, but one day I will.’ So if I don’t get it now, I’m going to because that’s who I am,” she said. “I just have always innately believed that it may not be today, but I will.”

Women’s steeplechase is a relatively young Olympic sport, having made its debut in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics. In the four Olympics to include the event, an American woman has only medaled twice. Coburn was the first when she won bronze in 2016, and three years ago, Frerichs won silver. Both will miss this summer’s Olympics due to injury.

Wayment could have a chance to do something no American woman has ever done before in the steeplechase: win gold at the Olympics. When the Deseret News asked if she ever allows herself to fantasize about accomplishing that feat, she said yes — but she also emphasized that it’s not her focus.

“I will be truthful that, yes, I would love to do something that no other American woman has done in the steeplechase,” she said. “I am chasing those things, but those aren’t the focal points of what I’m chasing. I would like to rewrite the history books, and if I get those opportunities, then I’ll try to make the most of them. If I don’t, I’m still going to chase them down and see what the ceiling is and see where my limit is.”

No matter the time or the finish, the Olympian knows her worth is not dependent on the results that happen at Stade de France — and she’s bringing a precious reminder of that with her to Paris.

During a hard moment in Wayment’s life, her mother gifted her a book of affirmations, titled “You Already Are.” Wayment brings it to almost every race, and it’s an essential for the Olympics.

“Whenever I get to Paris and whenever I line up, regardless of what happens, my worth as my own soul and my own person never changes, and it’s not dependent on my success on or off the track. It’s just dependent on who I am and how I choose to show up,” she said of her takeaway from the book.

How faith propels Courtney Wayment

To understand who Wayment is, one must understand how important her faith is to her. Her love of God is so important to her that it’s one of the three things she wants the world to know about her.

“I hope the world knows that I’m here to just spread love — that’s my goal. ... I love my people. I love what I get to do, and I love my God,” she said.

Wayment, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has been vocal about her faith and relationship with God, which is something she’s relied on in moments of adversity.

“In the bad, I’ve really tried to make sure I look at God in faith through the little things. There’s so many small wins, and they don’t feel like wins in the moment, but they are wins,” she said.

She acknowledged that it’s easier to be grateful and credit God in the good moments in life than in the bad. But in those moments, she tries to remember where she came from, how God led her to that good moment and how he was there for her.

“Most importantly, it doesn’t matter if I’m in a high or a low, that I’m always giving my love and my faith back to God, because anything that I’ve accomplished in life or on the track has come from God’s tender mercies and his love for me,” she said.

A key component to Wayment’s running is prayer.

When Wayment takes the track for the first time in Paris on Aug. 4, she’ll likely have already joined Taylor in prayer, like they do for every major race, and together, they will express their gratitude and love for God. Despite the two coming from different faiths, Taylor has been an example to Wayment “of giving gratitude back to God because he has led us here,” Wayment said.

That will likely not be Wayment’s only prayer before she crosses the finish line. Leading up to and during races, she often finds herself praying in her head.

“I’ll pray a lot and just be like, ‘Heavenly Father, I’mma need a little extra strength because I’m dead,’” she said.

While competing in her first Olympic race on a Sunday isn’t ideal for Wayment — Latter-day Saints set Sunday aside as a day of worship and rest — she believes it’s also fitting.

“I think you can share so much love on any day of the week, and why not use a Sunday as a day of love and a day of gratitude to God, of ‘Hey, I’m competing in the Olympics,’” she said. “The talent that God has given me — let me return it with being grateful and showing up the best that I can with the talent that I have been given and developed through God on this day.”

How Courtney Wayment has overcome adversity

Wayment is no stranger to adversity. Injuries kept her off the track for two consecutive seasons before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down and put her collegiate career on hold.

But looking back now, Wayment has been able to find the good in those moments and can see God’s hand in those back-to-back injuries.

”I felt like I had those injuries because they were ways to bring me back on my knees to Heavenly Father, to God,” she said.

Now, Wayment is coming off a year in which she endured “a lot of emotional warfare outside of running and track.”

Wayment didn’t disclose the specifics of her recent personal struggles to the Deseret News, but she opened up about how she was able to overcome them, specifically the “so many incredible people” that carried her to the start line of the trials.

“I saw a lot of true colors of all the people around me that have so much love for me, and they want to see me succeed in life, and they want to see me succeed on the track,” she said. “There were a lot of hard days, but those days were filled with so much love and light because I have so many people surrounding me with that. So I owe all of it to the people that I’m surrounded by: my family and my friends, and I’m very, very lucky to have the people in my life that I do.”

The difficulties of last year have made this year’s victories — achieving her lifelong dream of being an Olympian — even sweeter.

“I’ve had a lot of wins, and I’ve had a lot of success. But these ones are different, and these ones are more special,” she said.

Wayment is an example of the good that can be waiting behind current adversity, and she has a message for anyone else who is enduring their own personal battles.

“My advice to someone struggling with adversity or hardship right now is know that there is always light and love around you. Sometimes it’s in the smallest moments, and sometimes it’s in the smallest ways that seem so minute and they seem so minuscule. But those tiny things add up to big things. The more you look for the good and look for the love and look for the light in your life, the more you’ll see it, and the dark days, they do end at some point, and they might ebb and flow. But at some point they will end,” she said. “Know that you’re loved. You are loved beyond belief, and love is not reserved.”

https://www.deseret.com/faith/2024/07/25/courtney-wayments-journey-to-the-2024-olympics/