Imagine being a teenager, winning a gold medal at the Olympics, and suddenly becoming one of the most talked-about athletes in the world. Sounds amazing, right? But for Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, that attention after Tokyo 2020 wasn’t as glamorous as it seemed. In fact, it brought along a lot of personal struggles, especially when it came to her relationships with teammates. Before the Olympics, Sydney was just a talented track athlete at Union Catholic. But after winning Olympic gold in 400MH and breaking the world record, everything changed.
Suddenly, McLaughlin wasn’t just Sydney anymore; she was “Look, it’s Sydney McLaughlin.” Can you imagine the pressure that comes with that? “No one knew who I was,” Sydney reflects in her memoir, “Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith.” “But now, it seemed like everyone knew who I was before I started warming up. Pointing and snapping photos. No teenager should have that much attention on them.” She was just 21 at that time!
It was such a drastic shift from when she first competed in the Olympics in Rio. Although in 2016, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone herself did not secure a medal, she had a memorable performance in the 400m hurdles, where she came 17th with a time of 56.22 seconds. She was the youngest track and field Olympian in the country since 1972 at the young age of 16. Pretty cool, right? But then fast forward to Tokyo 2020, and everything was different. Following that win of the gold medal, she specifically faced the glare of the limelight, the media busy focusing on her. Sydney said, “That was a big shift from before Rio, when no one knew who I was. They might comment on my speed after a race.”
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One might think the attention would be everything one could ever wish for, would it not? But for Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, it was not as glamorous as it looked for some other athletes. With this, her team and every other player started to behave very differently to her. It went from a close team that worked cohesively in supporting each other to a time when she would feel left out. There were rumors, jokes, and people started to make rude comments about her, which obviously she didn’t like. “I began dreading going to school,” Sydney admits. “I didn’t know what the day would bring.” And can you begrudge her being frustrated at the situation?
What would you have done in her place? The stress of the national meet got to Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the worst way possible at the national meet, which was towards the end of her senior year. Her coach told her to run the shuttle hurdles relay, which was an event that could have brought the team a national championship. But Sydney was not close to any of her teammates, and she came up with what could be considered a rather drastic solution: she just said that she would not run. “But I didn’t care,” she says. “I knew they didn’t like me; that was clear. But I also had resentment in my heart. And I didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of winning when I was still hurt.”
Even if she did miss out on a national title, do you think that she was justified in sitting out? Sydney confesses now that it did not help to solve anything. “It didn’t mend the broken relationships,” she reflects. “I decided I needed a solution.” So, what was the real issue here?
Sydney McLaughlin reveals the dark side of her Olympic journey
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone said she believed there was a difference between her perception and that of her teammates of that senior year as a problem. This was much more than just a year on the track for Sydney and not just the average high school season. After the event, all her concentration was on the Olympics as well as other major occasions. For her teammates, though, that senior season was all they could want. And that difference in perspective really was a cause for tension.
As she puts it, “There was a big difference in how I viewed my senior year of track and how the rest of the team saw it. For me, it was a stepping stone to a career. My plan was to make my last year of high school another stop on the road to some of the biggest races in the world, including the next. For the rest of the team, that senior year of high school wasn’t a pit stop; it was the destination.”
Can you identify with that shift in thinking? Now she regrets how she acted, but, of course, at that time Sydney wanted to get rid of such an unpleasant thing. She said there was nothing she could use to cope with the stress that comes with fame, and she wished she had sought solace in religion. “I wish I had known to go to God back,” she says. “I know he would have heard my cries and prayers for help.”
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It’s crazy, isn’t it? And yet, along with all her achievements, Sydney was just as lost, just as lonely, and just as frustrated as the rest of us. Her story is not only about victory in sports, which resulted in an Olympic gold medal; it is also a story of the inner life of a champion. The scenarios that can be challenged when you are on the stage include the idea that success is not always beneficial for relationship scenarios. And now she is 25 with four gold Olympic medals! Even after the Paris Olympics and Brussels Diamond League feat, she was invited back to her high school, Union Catholic High School in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, to unveil an Olympic banner on September 24, 2024.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s experience shows that no matter how high you rise, it’s the connections you maintain and the way you handle the challenges that really matter. And honestly, don’t we all struggle with that in one way or another?