"People can just take a chill pill sometimes and let us do our thing" - Athing Mu opens up on quitting social media to ease the pressure on herself

21-year-old Athing Mu spoke about leaving social media before the onset of the World Athletics Championships 2023.

On Sunday, August 27, the American athlete clinched a bronze medal, failing to defend her title in the women’s 800m race. After the championship, Mu reflected on her world championship journey when she mentioned deleting her social media.

Three weeks before the World Athletics Championships 2023, Athing Mu made headlines for deleting her social media. The news came in when her coach Bobby Kersee told the media, that they might focus on training for the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, shutting down the notion, Athing Mu competed at the 800m women’s race on Sunday winning the bronze medal with a 1:56.61 time frame.

Winners of women's 800m race at Day 9 of World Athletics Championships Budapest 2023

It was Kenya’s Mary Moraa who dethroned Mu to win the gold medal with a 1.56.03 time frame. Moreover, Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson clocked an impressive 1:56.34s, winning the silver medal.

After the race, in an interaction with Citus Mag, the athlete expressed that she was able to enjoy her world championship experience this year after she deleted her social media, three weeks ago. She added that the world was highly speculating about what was going on in her life, which was not well appreciated by the athlete.

Mu added that the media and fans often jump to their assumptions every time they see athletes training or competing. Naturally, it affects the athletes and also their performance in their sport. At last, Mu added,

"People can just take a chill pill sometimes just you know let us do our thing and you know just I don't know let us be athletes."

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Athing Mu’s athletics career so far

Athing Mu at World Athletics Championships Oregon22 - Day Ten

Athing Mu’s athletics career rocketed when she competed in the 600-meter event at the 2019 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships. The young athlete’s time-frame of 1:23.57s helped her to break the American women's record of 1:23.59s at the event. That also brought her close to defeating the women's world record of 1:23.44s.

Then, in 2021, Mu won two Olympic gold medals in the 800m and 4x400m relay races. That year, she became the youngest U.S. woman to win an individual Olympic track and field title. Moreover, she ended a 53-year Olympic win drought for the country in the 800m event.

In the 2022 World Athletics Championships, Mu achieved her first-ever gold medal at the 800m event with a world-leading time of 1:56.30. In fact, she won the race by just 0.08 s from competitor Mary Moraa.