Welsh sprinter Jeremiah Azu won silver in the men’s 100m at the European Championships in Birmingham last night. The 25 year-old has a strong Christian background and has spoken of his love for singing in church. Derek Walker reports on the athlete who is running both races well
You’re a sports star and you love God. You’ve reached a level that you worked for sacrificially since you were a child. You know that you only have so many years before your body slows, but now you’ve had a highly successful event, so you want to thank God – but how can you?
Sprinter Jeremiah Azu, dubbed “the fastest man in Wales” and the 12th British man to break the 10-second barrier in the 100m event, was part of a first-and-second partnership that took medals in the 100m in this week’s European Athletic Championships, held in Birmingham.
In his interview with the BBC, he turned to the camera and, laughing, said, “Can I send a message to my youth group? I’m not going to be there tomorrow, sorry. Youth group is cancelled!”
It may not have been a direct plug for Jesus, but it certainly indicated that church is very much on his mind, even when having just won a medal.
And Azu has had to be careful, because in 2022, very much in the style of Brazilian football legend Neymar, he wore a headband that stated, “100% Jesus”. It made a point, but the authorities also made a point – of warning him about the rules regarding wearing personal messages that fit the ‘religious or political’ category.
This issue of religious expression in sport has been most notable in top class football of late.
Warnings
Every season, the Premier League hosts Stonewall’s Rainbow Laces campaign, which encourages footballers to wear multicoloured laces in support of LGBT people. In 2024 it was using rainbow-coloured armbands, which all players had to wear for contractual reasons. Ipswich’s Muslim captain Sam Morsy refused to wear one for “religious beliefs,” but Crystal Palace’s Christian captain Marc Guehi took a more positive line, wearing his, writing on it the inclusive message, “I [heart] Jesus” and following it up in the next game with “Jesus [heart] You”.
In 2002, Brazil – a team featuring several Christian players – won football’s World Cup. While wild celebrations were taking place on the pitch, several Christians knelt face-down on the grass, thanking God, then stood up, revealing white T-shirts emblazoned with slogans like “I believe in Jesus.” It was particularly heart-warming to see players collect their medals, with the message “Jesus [heart] loves you” more noticeable than the medals themselves – and this broadcast to the world.
However, this led to Football’s governing body FIFA sending a warning letter to the Brazilian football federation “to remind them of the relevant regulations, so that such incidents do not recur in the future”.
While players are free to pray on the pitch, FIFA’s Law 4 states, “Players must not reveal undergarments showing slogans or advertising. The basic compulsory equipment must not have any political, religious or personal statements.”
There are also Christians who are concerned about these messages for different reasons. When Brazilian Neymar – one of the world’s highest-paid footballers – won gold in the 2016 Olympics, he took the podium to receive his gold medal with a headband reading “100% Jesus.” Yet with a less-than-stable love life and alleged tax evasion, his lifestyle has undermined that claim.
Kaká has stated that, “The Christian athlete has the great responsibility of always giving a good testimony. Whenever I can, I try to demonstrate what God has done in my life and to act in accordance with biblical values.”
What faith means
Azu, who is the son of a pastor – maybe helped by not having to cope with the pressures of a billionaire’s bank balance – appears to be more grounded than Neymar. His family are heavily involved in leading their church in Cardiff and he has sung there “as long as I can remember.”
Speaking to the Church Times, Azu explained, “We sing a mixture of traditional praise and African worship songs, and mix it in with British, American, and European songs. I’ve sung for as long as I can remember. I also feel free when I sing: it’s a similar feeling to when I am running. When I’m singing, I feel like I am having a really big one-to-one connection with God.”
He also credits his sprinting success to the discipline that his faith has given him. The Independent’s recent interview with him summed this up: ”Fatherhood, and his faith, are the pillars of Azu’s life,” stated the media outlet. ”He credits his faith for the ’discipline’ he needs as an athlete: ‘I believe that I’m working on my talent which is a God-given talent which requires me to put my all into it’”.
In the same interview he added, “I don’t stand on the line with fear because there’s bigger things than me, there’s bigger things than track and field, and I think that all stems from my faith.”
Azu still does most of his talking on the athletics track. A list of his achievements would be so long that it is easier to summarise them: in a competitions record of his championships from 2017-2025, out of 26 entries, he has come first in 16 and achieved silver or bronze placing in a further 6.
Last night was a big moment. And his success looks set to continue. I suspect the same can be said of his clever asides to the media.
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