{"id":5275,"date":"2024-12-22T10:41:54","date_gmt":"2024-12-22T10:41:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/?p=5275"},"modified":"2024-12-22T10:41:54","modified_gmt":"2024-12-22T10:41:54","slug":"5275-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/?p=5275","title":{"rendered":"Terrified Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Recalls Running Away From Media Before Rio Olympics."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Four-Time Olympic Gold Medalist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Understands What It Takes to Compete\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LpLzsG5NXCY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, a name that now echoes greatness, began her Olympic journey at an age when most of us were figuring out high school life. At just 16, she stepped onto the global stage in the 400-meter hurdles. She was technically still a kid, yet she was racing against the best in the world. The road to Rio was nothing short of jaw-dropping. During the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials, Sydney clocked a mind-blowing 54.15 seconds, breaking the world youth best and junior record while securing her ticket to the Olympics. Let\u2019s not forget that she was still balancing homework with hurdles, and her epic sprint made her the youngest U.S. Olympic track and field athlete since 1980. But Rio wasn\u2019t all gold and glory. When it came time to race, Sydney placed fifth in her semi-final heat, missing the finals. It was a lot to handle for someone who\u2019d just been thrown into the limelight. And now she has opened up about how overwhelming the pressure felt, recalling how she would literally run away from the media leading up to the Olympics. Can you blame her? At 16, most of us were running away from awkward school pictures, not the weight of international expectations!<\/p>\n<p>In Far Beyond Gold, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone shared the behind-the-scenes parts of her story. \u201cI had dozens of stories like that,\u201d she said, describing episodes of acute concern\u2014she was afraid to disobey her parents, anger God, or look foolish. Reflecting on the aftermath of the Olympic trials, she admitted, \u201cThose memories and the apprehension they represented were with me. And they were a huge but unseen part of my story that summer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-5298\" src=\"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Sydney-McLaughlin-Levrone-9-e1734763990239-300x169.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Sydney-McLaughlin-Levrone-9-e1734763990239-300x169.webp 300w, https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Sydney-McLaughlin-Levrone-9-e1734763990239-768x432.webp 768w, https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Sydney-McLaughlin-Levrone-9-e1734763990239-750x422.webp 750w, https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Sydney-McLaughlin-Levrone-9-e1734763990239.webp 900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As the world watched her non-emotional, unbreakable forte, Sydney felt the pressure to fit into the narrative the media wanted to tell. \u201cSuddenly, my childhood was of interest to a lot of people,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThere was an assumption that I was built differently. The media loves to feed narratives like this. It\u2019s good for business.\u201d Journalists were interested in the ways she worked on her competitive advantage and desire to succeed. \u201cThey are looking for the ingredients of an athlete\u2019s success\u2014the experience, lessons, obstacles, and influences that molded them into an Olympic athlete,\u201d she explained. \u201cThey want to craft a narrative, tell a story about an underdog overcoming adversity or a talented prodigy not buckling under the weight of expectations.\u201d But Sydney realized that her tale did not belong to the triumphant genre of women who fought against the impossible\u2014it was a blessing. \u201cI didn\u2019t earn it; I just had it. It was as much a part of me as my height and brown eyes,\u201d she shared. This was evident even at six years old; Sydney was able to race for the first time in her life. Scared of losing, she pleaded with her dad not to make her run. But his simple reassurance, \u201cSydney, you can do this. You were made to do this,\u201d was enough to make me feel better\u2014and win. And Sydney\u2019s dad has been there for her every step of the way.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, a name that now echoes greatness, began her Olympic journey at an age when most of us were figuring out high school life. At just 16, she stepped onto the global stage in the 400-meter hurdles. She was technically still a kid, yet she was racing against the best in the world. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-5.webp",312,312,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-5-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-5-300x300.webp",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-5.webp",312,312,false],"large":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-5.webp",312,312,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-5.webp",312,312,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-5.webp",312,312,false],"jnews-360x180":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-5-312x180.webp",312,180,true],"jnews-750x375":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-5.webp",312,312,false],"jnews-1140x570":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-5.webp",312,312,false],"jnews-120x86":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-5-120x86.webp",120,86,true],"jnews-350x250":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-5-312x250.webp",312,250,true],"jnews-750x536":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-5.webp",312,312,false],"jnews-1140x815":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-5.webp",312,312,false],"jnews-360x504":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-5.webp",312,312,false],"jnews-75x75":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-5-75x75.webp",75,75,true],"jnews-350x350":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-5.webp",312,312,false],"jnews-featured-750":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-5.webp",312,312,false],"jnews-featured-1140":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-5.webp",312,312,false]},"author_info":{"display_name":"Newssoccer","author_link":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/?author=1"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/?cat=1\" rel=\"category\">Blog<\/a>","tag_info":"Blog","comment_count":"0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-5.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5275"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5300,"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5275\/revisions\/5300"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}