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The "mark of the Beast" came between a high school track athlete and her chance for sports glory.
Codie Thacker of Whitley County, Kentucky refused to run a regional cross country meet she had been training for months to run in because she was assigned the participant number of "666." That number is often associated with Satan.
Thacker told WYMT-TV that her religious principles were more important than any race, "I just don't believe that 666 should be a number that's anywhere on your body and I did not want that number associated with me. It kind of made me sick."
The teen and her coach say race officials refused to allow a number change on the day of the competition and forced Thacker to sit out the meet.
But state high school officials say they were never given advanced notice of Thacker's objections. They insist had they known she was protesting on religious grounds they may have been able to accommodate a number change, as they have in the past.
The state's high school athletics association has each runner's "bib" number generated by a computer and then randomly assigned to each participant.
The "mark of the Beast" originates from the Book of Revelation, the final book of the New Testament. Revelation 13:17 reads, "Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."
Related: Eerie: Flight #666 heads to HEL on Friday the 13th
