"So powerful but also so poised" - Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone reveals her role model athletes while growing up

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone recently opened up about her role model athletes while growing up. The Olympic champion hurdler recently participated in the women's 400m event at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, which she won with a seasonal best timing of 49.43 seconds.

In a conversation with On Her Turf channel, McLaughlin-Levrone revealed that she was a huge fan of athletes like Allyson Felix and Sanya Richards-Ross when she was growing up. She also mentioned what qualities she tried to imbibe from the two.

"I definitely looked up to Allyson Felix and Sanya Richards-Ross growing up, for sure. Both of them, just amazing athletes. Just so strong, so powerful, but also so poised. And I think how they carried themselves more than anything is what really inspired me to want to be the best at what I do, but also do it with class and grace," McLaughlin-Levrone said.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has been experimenting with the 400m event for the past few months. Though she gained considerable success at both the Grand Slam Track and the Diamond League, the world record holder for women's 400m hurdles is not yet satisfied. She hopes to win back the title at the Tokyo World Championships.

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When Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone opened up about her debut Olympic experience

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone talks about her experience at the Rio Olympics [Image Source: Getty]

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone once recounted her experience at the Rio Olympics in 2016. The world record holder hurdler was one of the youngest track and field athletes to have represented the USA at that time, being only next to Esther Stroy, who was 15 years old when she represented the USA at the Mexico City Olympics in 1968.

In her autobiography 'Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith', the Olympic champion hurdler mentioned:

"I always had this sense that being in an Olympic race would somehow feel different. I’d never analyzed what that meant. I guess I just thought the spotlight was so big and the moment so extraordinary that it caused athletes to become the best possible version of themselves. I’d spent countless hours imagining the experience."

Talking about her expectations and the reality she experienced, McLaughlin-Levrone further wrote:

"Broken limbs, tears streaming down my face, just an absolute mess. The camera would zoom in on me, writhing in pain, the Olympic rings framing the bottom of the screen. My teenage imagination was something else. Instead, the reality was much more ordinary. I didn’t sleep great the night before the first qualifying heat in Rio, like any other race."

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone was eliminated in the semifinals of the women's 400m hurdles. This was the only time in her Olympic history that the hurdler lost any race. Since then, the world-record hurdler hasn't only broken several world records and bagged four Olympic gold medals in both the Tokyo and the Paris Olympics.