Angered by Former Love, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Was Forced to Take Major Step Ahead of Rio Olympics

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s approach to her life has always been simple. She does not want to complicate things. Rather, the simple way of valuing things impresses her. This feeling once made her divide her life into four islands. Each island expressed each major segment of her life. Such as? The names are enough to justify: “Relationship Island. Track Island. Friendship Island. Faith Island.” Per the Olympian, the interconnected islands are sufficient to make someone’s life blossom to the fullest. However, in the past, Sydney experienced a few occasions when her life islands thrived at the same time. Otherwise, on most occasions, multiple factors kept the islands shaking. Surprisingly, before the Rio Olympics, she faced something that posed a crisis to three islands. 

At 16, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone stepped into the Rio Olympics, the first quadrennial Games of her life. However, in the same year, she faced a test on her mental strength. It came through a heartbreak. But it taught her a few lessons in the meantime. 

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s experience left her seeing things differently 

In the Rio Olympics, everything didn’t work as planned. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone had to leave the contest after finishing late in the women’s 400m hurdles event in the semifinal. However, during most of her days in Rio, the athlete didn’t feel very energetic. Her fever limited her to remaining bedridden and quarantined. She didn’t even inform her family about the specifics of her issue. The reason? The teenager didn’t want her parents to worry about her. So it was leisure time for her during those days in Rio. But could she be able to cherish those fully? No, certainly not. The missing piece was her online presence. Yes, despite being a fun-loving teenager, Sydney was spending those days away from social media. Any reason? 

In her book, Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith, Sydney penned the events that made her look away from social media once. It was because of her painful experience with her love from high school. It happened to her in the earlier part of 2016. Explaining the bit of it, she wrote, “I found out that the guy I was going out with at the time had cheated on me. After we broke up, the individual he cheated on me with sent me a message on Instagram.” That message brought in massive things. Once having had a rich social life, Sydney failed to find any way to reconcile with things after seeing that message. But what was in that message? 

According to Sydney’s lines, “There was no apology. No, ‘Sorry about that. Things got out of hand. I know this must be tough for you.’ Instead, this person mocked me, made fun of me, and was about as cruel as one human being can be to another. Though I had been wronged, the antagonist made me out to be the bad guy.” The message filled with hatred left many things behind, as a boon to Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. Even in a few days, things became public, and as a result, several bitter voices chased her day in and day out. “First, there were comments made on social media, subtle shots at my character for the online world to see. Then it seemed like everyone in my school knew about the broken relationship. That betrayal became a topic for the entire school to whisper about in the hallways and gossip about in person and online,” Sydney wrote to give a glimpse of the situation. 

Such an experience rattled the then-high schooler. She felt frightened coming under such preposterous attacks. This fear kept her away from using social media during her Olympic days, and it left a scar on her. How? The impact could be visible when she met with her future husband. 

The bitter experience was tough to wash away 

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone found all the life islands connected in Andre Levrone Jr.’s story. She felt impressed by the fact. Ultimately, Sydney poured some of this satisfaction into her words in the book: “On a picture of Andre running with the ball during practice, a teammate suspended in midair behind him, the caption read: ‘My hope is not in the path; my hope is in Jesus’ promise.’ Another photo showed him at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, standing next to a sign with a caption that read: ’66 books written by over 40 authors, spanning 4000 years. The pillars of Hope, faith, LOVE, & obedience that are inside make life so much more fulfilling!’” The story started to get thickened from there. 

In 2020, the couple started to date each other. Two years later, their relationship found the name of marriage. Both Sydney and Andre felt happy about everything. They promised each other to stand in every situation of life. But in the middle of the story, Sydney had to fight with her mental demons to keep it easygoing. On one occasion, Andre confessed his past relationship debacles to his then-girlfriend, SML. Apparently, that should not have brought any bitter feelings to anyone. But Sydney felt deep thoughts. 

In her book, Sydney explained it, penning, “I appreciated his honesty, but it made me uncomfortable. I had no idea how I was supposed to respond to it. We had only been getting to know each other for a little over a month. That night, as I reflected on my evening with Andre, I found myself struggling with fear. I was afraid of how vulnerable he was and what that would mean for me.” Did that fear come from her experience of dealing with cheating in her love life? However, she made her amends for the situation and decided to accept things.