Ladies’s 400m hurdles Olympic gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the U.S., Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photograph/Petr David Josek)
Expectations had been as excessive for American runner Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone as for maybe every other athlete coming into the 2024 Paris Olympics. And after Thursday’s ladies’s 400-meter hurdles remaining, possibly these expectations weren’t excessive sufficient.
McLaughlin-Levrone pulled away whereas rounding the backstretch to blow away the sector, win by greater than a second, and set a brand new world report with an incredible run of 50.37 seconds. Anna Cockrell of the USA nabbed the silver whereas Femke Bol of the Netherlands took bronze.
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There’s NO catching Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone!
She provides ANOTHER 400m hurdles gold medal and WORLD RECORD to her assortment. #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/RJ7reApKfV
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 8, 2024
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, QUEEN of breaking her personal 400m hurdles data! 👑🤌 #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/VQd47ayrLo
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 9, 2024
After the race, as per regular, McLaughlin-Levrone directed all glory to her Heavenly Father.
“I credit score all that I do to God,” she said in her post-race press conference. “He’s given me a present, He’s given me a drive to only need to proceed to enhance upon myself, and I’ve a platform and I need to use it to glorify Him. So at any time when I step on the observe it’s at all times the prayer of, ‘God, let me be the vessel through which You’re glorified, regardless of the result’s — how I conduct myself, how I carry myself, not simply how I carry out.’ So it’s simply freedom in understanding that no matter what occurs, He’s going to get the reward via me. That’s why I do what I do.”
McLaughlin-Levrone, who turned simply 25 on Wednesday, already has three Olympic Video games below her belt and now three Olympic gold medals to her title. She has now set a brand new world report six occasions within the 400m hurdles over the previous 5 years, the newest one earlier than Thursday’s race coming less than two months ago at the U.S. Olympic Trials (50.65 seconds). She is extensively thought of some of the widespread feminine observe stars in American historical past, and she or he’s an everyday on nationwide tv commercials and one of many faces of Workforce USA.
She’s grow to be a global celebrity all whereas remaining a boldly but gracefully unashamed follower of Christ.
After her semifinal run of the 400m hurdles in Paris, McLaughlin-Levrone talked about her belief in God in an interview with NBC’s Lewis Johnson.
“You’re employed all yr to get right here, however what you’ve completed is what retains you right here,” she said. “So it’s nearly executing that, trusting the method, trusting the plan, and finally, trusting God.”
McLaughlin-Levrone additionally credited her husband, Andre Levrone Jr., for being “my finest good friend, my greatest supporter, my private pastor. I really like him greater than life itself.” The couple married in May 2022.
McLaughlin-Levrone writes that she is “resting in Jesus’ grace” in her X bio, and she or he declares that “Jesus is Lord” on Instagram. She talks overtly and sometimes about her religion in Christ on each social media platforms.
— Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (@GoSydGo) April 23, 2024
“Let me begin off by saying, what an honor it’s to have the ability to symbolize not solely my nation, but in addition the dominion of God,” she captioned an Instagram post after the Tokyo Olympics. “What I’ve in Christ is much higher than what I’ve or don’t have in life. I pray my journey could also be a transparent depiction of submission and obedience to God. Even when it doesn’t make sense, even when it doesn’t appear attainable. He’ll make a approach out of no approach. Not for my very own gratification, however for His glory.
“I’ve by no means seen God fail in my life. In anybody’s life for that matter. Simply because I’ll not win each race, or obtain each considered one of my coronary heart’s needs, doesn’t imply God had failed. His will is PERFECT. And He has ready me for a second reminiscent of this. That I’ll use the presents He has given me to level all the eye again to Him.”
Away from the observe, McLaughlin-Levrone wrote a ebook referred to as “Far Beyond Gold: Running From Fear to Faith,” which was launched in January. Within the ebook, she shares her testimony and talks about how her relationship with Christ has helped her battle perfectionism and anxiousness.
Along with her quite a few public feedback about her religion, McLaughlin-Levrone was featured as the quilt story within the Summer season 2024 version of Sports Spectrum Magazine and has been a visitor on the Sports activities Spectrum Podcast a number of occasions, first in 2021 and once more this past January.
“There’s been loads of discuss that I’ve acquired nearly, you understand, ‘You may not need to discuss a lot about [faith]. You may lose endorsements, you may lose offers, this, that, and the third,’” McLaughlin-Levrone mentioned on the podcast in 2021. “However, I imply, I don’t reside for the approval of individuals, so I don’t have to fret about any of these issues. And even when an endorsement or one thing desires to depart, I do know that God will present for me in the way in which He sees match. So I’m not going to compromise the reality simply to make folks really feel extra snug.
“… I proceed to talk the reality as a result of I do know it’s what I’m referred to as to do, and simply grateful to have neighborhood round me and helps me via that even when all of the folks outdoors of that don’t.”
On this video from a Sports activities Spectrum dialog, Olympic gold medalist @GoSydGo continues to present the glory to Christ 🙏https://t.co/NZ6o9G6F4h pic.twitter.com/rD5P5mvGhq
— Sports activities Spectrum (@Sports_Spectrum) August 8, 2024
“In a sport the place you’re actually chasing gold on a regular basis, I might take my love for Christ and that relationship over a gold medal any day,” she mentioned later within the podcast.
For the remainder of her life, McLaughlin-Levrone will probably be often known as top-of-the-line observe athletes in Olympic historical past. She’ll be often known as a three-time gold medalist (with possibly extra to return) and somebody who held a world report. Nonetheless, she is aware of that every one of it pales compared to her identification in Christ.
“For a very long time, observe was who I used to be,” she mentioned on the podcast in 2021. “However now greater than ever, at the start I’m a toddler of God, and observe shouldn’t be who I’m, it’s what I do.”
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