U.S. swimmer Hunter Armstrong had two impressive medals to bring back to his home in Columbus, Ohio, after the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Armstrong scored a gold medal in the Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay and a silver medal in the Medley relay.
Although this is not Armstrong’s first gold medal, he told Fox News Digital there were goals he didn’t achieve during his first Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020.
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"I think there was a little bit of a redemption arc here. I really just wanted to do better than I did then, and I was able to get that done," said Armstrong in an on-camera interview. (See the video at the top of this article.)
He said winning gold in 2024 brought tears to his eyes — and this time it felt different.
"I did earn one in Tokyo, but that was on a prelim relay, so I didn't get to fight for it. I just got those guys a lane, which is still a really important role — but I earned this one, and I couldn't have asked for a better team to do it with."
Armstrong credits his faith for his big win — and said faith is his life.
"I don't see myself in my day-to-day life as an Olympian. But every day I'm a Christian. When I'm competing, I'm a Christian Olympian," he said.
Armstrong said he was not always as faith forward as he is today, and that — while always a believer — he'd drifted a bit from his faith as he got older.
"Always a believer, but I wasn't buying into it," he said.
"I didn't have a relationship with God, and that's something I felt like I was taking advantage of Him for, because I'd only remember about faith when I needed it," said Armstrong.
"And that’d be in competition when I'm stressed out or I'm worrying — that's when I'd pray."
After going through a life-changing break-up and other personal challenges, Armstrong shared the loneliness he felt during that time, which was part of his journey, he said.
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"The biggest change was I realized that I had to buy into this. When you put something else above God, He'll take it away."
Armstrong said there is a strong sense of camaraderie among fellow swimmers, and they've created a community of faith.
"I remember I was just bed-rotting in the Middle East. I'd go to practice, I'd come back, I'd lay in bed, go to sleep, wake up for the next practice."
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He said fellow U.S. swimmer and friend Carson Foster texted him inviting him to a Bible study.
"I didn't want to go. I was sad, I was lazy. But something in me just said, ‘Go to this,’ and it was incredible."
Armstrong said he leans on scripture and has learned a great lesson during his current season of life.
"When God needs to make a man great, He isolates him. I truly felt that this past five, six months, because everybody that I had, everybody I [was] close to in my life, left me," he told Fox News Digital.
"And it was heartbreaking. I'd never been so alone."
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He added, "That's when I realized that God was working in my life, because He had to tear down who I was in order to build me into the person He had planned for me to become."
Thirty-four percent of Generation Z consider themselves not religious, while 29% of millennials and 25% of Generation X identify as religiously unaffiliated, according to the American Enterprise Institute’s Survey Center on American Life.
The 23-year-old athlete said he advises the younger generation to pay attention to faith and how it works in their life.
"We see signs every single day. I mean, we woke up this morning. It's a beautiful day. [God] is constantly working in our lives, and there's always signs that He's with us."
Armstrong said he has allocated six months of time off from swimming right now, but is already "getting bored."
"I miss working out. I miss the grind. I may or may not go to short course worlds in Budapest. That'll be in December. So that's just something I'll feel out on, where my body's at, where my mental health is," he said.
"But the next big one will be the world championships in Singapore next summer."
