Asif Shaikh pulled back the right sleeve of his new black Team USA T-shirt to reveal those familiar multicolored rings on his bicep.
“I’m not someone who would get a tattoo at all but I thought if I was going to get one I’d get one that means something,” he said with a smile. “Having the opportunity to be at the Olympics and serve I thought this was a lasting impression that I thought was worthy of the cause.”
Shaikh didn’t run a race in the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He didn’t swim any, either. But, he did help the red, white and blue American athletes perform their best by serving as the Team USA chaplain.
“Overall the experience was amazing. I mean, how many people get to go to an Olympics?” he said Monday, just a few days after returning home to Seminole. “The biggest thing I’ll remember bout Rio was just the connection with the athletes. … If you saw a lot of our athletes, they give glory to God at the end of their race. I would say, us as chaplains, we have a little part in that.”
The 2016 Games are the third Olympics that Shaikh has served Team USA. He helped athletes stay focused and, in some cases, overcome heartache before their events.
“I had an athlete who lost someone very dear to them and was very shaken by that,” he said. “I was really able to come in beside them and say, ‘Hey, there is going to be a time to grieve. There is going to be a time to just stop and remember this person but right now you’ve been working four years to get to this spot. Let’s try to get that his place and finish strong.' "
Chapel services took place on Sundays. Shaikh spent time in the Olympic Village with the athletes where there were plenty of “distractions." He was able to attend only three Olympic events because he was so busy.
He did find time to do the ultimate chaplain sightseeing – visiting the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio.
“It was the one spot everybody wanted to go to,” he said. “it was really neat to see the Jesus statue at night with the light on it.”
Shaikh got in line at 2:30 in the afternoon and didn’t make it to the foot of the statue until after 7 p.m.
“This is a job that I get to do. It’s an opportunity of a lifetime.”
He has served as the Team USA chaplain in two other Olympics – Sochi in 2014 and London in 2012. He also assumed the role for the World Cup in South Africa. Before that, Shaikh was a chaplain at the University of South Florida from 2001 to 2014.
