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By Mallory Mattingly
Four-time Olympic gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone shared what it’s like to prepare for the Olympics, revealing she relies on the Lord through the whole process.
“Understanding that the whole world is going to be watching this one moment, a lot of people are actually praying that you lose,” McLaughlin-Levrone told Jinger Duggar Vuolo and her husband Jeremy Vuolo on their podcast. “Ultimately, nobody else can help you once you step on that line except the Lord in those moments.”
“It’s not even so much me thinking about winning,” she continued. “It’s prayer for the Lord to deliver me through this race, through this moment.”
She explained that anxiety “weighs on you” when competing in the Olympics because athletes know this could be a once-in-a-lifetime moment.
“And I think when you cross that line and you see that you won and you ran a certain time, it’s like, that’s great, but I’m like, ‘Thank you, God for getting me through this moment. Thank you for delivering me through all the anxiety and the tears and injuries and seasons of doubt and wanting to quit halfway through the season.’ Like all these different things that nobody sees. The Lord is always present with me in those moments,” the athlete said.
Right before she runs, she says, “God’s got you.” When she crosses the finish line, her first words are “Thank you, God.”
“So you almost feel like you’re running for Him,” the track and field star declared. “I imagine him looking down on me in this moment from heaven, just like, ‘Okay, my child, just go do what I’ve given you a gift to do.’ It’s just a beautiful expression of us running the Christian race, and wanting to do it well.”
This weekend, McLaughlin-Levrone will make her way to the City of Brotherly Love to compete in her first professional 100-meter race at the Philadelphia Grand Slam track meet.
As she prepares for the meet, she is “Seizing every opportunity while it exists; these days don’t last forever,” she wrote in a post on Instagram following the Grand Slam meet in Miami.
There, she easily won the 400m hurdles with a 52.07 time, which happens to be the fastest time ever run before June.
“Just feeling 14 strides [between hurdles] again,” she told NBC Sports after the race. “Obviously, there’s some stuff to clean up, but I’m happy with where my fitness is. For a second race of the year, I’m happy.”
As McLaughlin-Levrone prepares to race her first-ever 100-meter race, one thing is for certain: she will be leaning on the Lord. The track and field star will run at 6:22 p.m. on Saturday, May 31, and again on June 1 at 4:18 p.m. and 5:13 p.m.
Read Next: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Finds Her Worth in Christ, Not Performance
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