Four-time Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone once reflected on her ways of handling the inevitable fame that came with her immense track success and acknowledged that her journey left a trail of hurt in relationships.
McLaughlin-Levrone made her Olympic debut at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she reached the semi-final of the 400m hurdles and impressed the track and field world. Following that, the 25-year-old not only defeated the then-defending champion Dalilah Muhammad at the Tokyo Olympic trials but also broke her world record after clocking 51.90 seconds.
During the Tokyo Olympics, McLaughlin-Levrone stood atop the podium by defeating Muhammad again with a time of 51.46 seconds, further lowering the world record. The American sprinter then claimed her second Olympic gold by joining forces with Muhammad to win the 4x400m relay title.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone became one of the most successful track and field athletes and garnered an immense fan base. During her appearance at The College Sports Company podcast in October 2023, she was asked how she handled the fame in her career. She said [11:17 onwards]:
“Looking back I think I made a lot of mistakes, and I think I just left a trail of hurt in friendships and relationships along the way, but I feel like that’s a part of life is you can reflect and look back and say at least I’ve grown from that and learned.”
“I don’t think money, fame, looks will ever take away anybody’s problems; I truly believe they would only add problems… “I’m so content with just my relationship with God that it doesn’t matter what I look like, it doesn’t matter what I do for a living, or how much money I have because at the end of the day, all of those things will be; they won’t come with me. The only thing I will have when I stand before God is what I did on this earth to glorify him.”
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone successfully defended her 400m hurdles title at this year’s Paris Olympics after breaking the world record for the sixth time.
