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The Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin faced a defining period at 16 until quitting became almost an option for him.
Olympic 400m hurdles champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has opened up on the aftermath of her Rio Olympics debut when she was 16.
The two-time Olympic 400mH champion said the experiences she witnessed in Brazil had a far-reaching impact which led to several changes when she returned for her senior year in high school.
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17:35 - 15.12.2024
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone spills the beans on her first heartbreak that left her seeing things differently
American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has had niggles in her social life. The track queen's first love introduced her to the realities of what love life entailed.
After finding out that the guy she was going out with at the time cheated on her, she quit social media for a while but more pissing to her was that a lot of people who were close to her began looking at her differently. This, she said, impacted her training regime as well.
According to Sportskeeda, this led to the three-time world champion to think about taking a break from the day-to-day grind of going to school as well as navigating a complicated relationship with his peers.
"When I felt as though most people close to me now looked at me differently, I took it personally. Especially because some of those issues came even to the track, running became a burden, not the outlet it had previously been for me: a place to take a break from the grind of school and the ups and downs of relationships," she said.
As though this was not enough and to make matters worse, McLaughlin-Levrone delivered a bombshell:
"The adolescent pettiness became so frustrating that I seriously considered not running my senior year: quitting the Union Catholic track team and preparing for college on my own."
McLaughlin-Levrone, 25, set a world record time of 50.37 seconds at the 2024 Paris Olympics, breaking her own old world record of 50.65 seconds. She is the first track athlete to break four world records in the same event; setting four world records during 13 months.
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