'I didn't really know God' - When Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone opened up about her struggles with faith after debut Olympics setback

Olympic champion sprinter Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone once opened up about her struggles with faith after she faced a setback at her inaugural Olympics. McLaughlin-Levrone was barely 17 years old when she represented the USA at the quadrennial event held in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

In a blog written for the biblical portal Guideposts, McLaughlin-Levrone opened up about her equation with the Almighty, especially after the disappointment she faced at Rio. The Olympic champion sprinter revealed that despite being raised by devout parents, she 'avoided' God.

"My parents had raised my siblings and me in the church, but I didn’t really know God. I’d been avoiding him because I had this idea of him as a harsh taskmaster who’d demand that I give up what I enjoyed, including running, to serve him. Even so, my soul must have been yearning for him, because I found myself thinking, 'The only way I’m going to heal from this is with God.' So I started going to church again," McLaughlin-Levrone wrote in the blog.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone had qualified for the semifinals of the women's 400m hurdles at the Rio Olympics in 2016. However, she finished fifth in the semifinals with a time of 56.22 seconds. This was the first and only time that the American sprinter couldn’t win big at the Olympics.

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When Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone recalled losing the top spot at the World Championships 2019

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in action at the World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 [Image Source : Getty]

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone once got candid about losing the top spot at the 2019 World Championships held in Doha, Qatar. The American athlete lost to the then Olympic champion and her teammate, Dalilah Muhammad.

In her conversation with Guideposts, McLaughlin-Levrone recalled what went wrong as she remarked,

"My anxiety ratcheted up. At the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, I stuttered on the eighth hurdle. I still finished with the third-fastest time in the history of my event. But Dalilah ran the fastest time ever, breaking her own world record."

The American athlete further added,

"I found my dad in the tunnel under the stadium and sobbed, ashamed be­cause I knew things could have been different if I’d prepared right."

Despite the loss, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone managed to clinch a silver medal with a time of 52.23 seconds, her personal best at that time. Dalilah Muhammad improved upon her world record timing to win the gold medal with a new world record time of 52.16 seconds. Rushell Clayton of Jamaica won the bronze medal with a personal best of 53.74 seconds.