Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone opened up about facing fear before making her Olympic debut as a 16-year-old. The American athlete revealed how she faced a lot of self-doubt before competing against a highly competitive line-up at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials.
McLaughlin-Levrone qualified for the finals of the women's 400m hurdles after finishing first in the semi-finals. However, before marching on to the trials' finals, the American athlete revealed that nervousness about competing led to a mind freeze, and her aspirations of competing at the Olympics came to a standstill.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone spoke in detail about her experience in her memoir 'Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith'. The 25-year-old revealed how she had been dreaming of competing at the Olympic games ever since she watched the women's 4x400m relay at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where Sanya Richards-Ross ran the final leg and Team USA clinched the gold medal.
"Since that time, I’ve often asked myself why I was so afraid. You may know that kind of fear: the kind that freezes you, stops you in your tracks, and makes you forget everything you’ve worked for and everything you want. It feels like a curse as if it’s completely out of your control. Why was this happening to me? Why, suddenly, did I want nothing to do with my dreams of Olympic glory?" she wrote.
" It wasn’t because I thought I had no chance of making the team. By any objective standard, I was one of the fastest in the field. I had every reason to believe not only that I belonged but also that if performed to my capabilities, I would punch my ticket to Rio," McLaughlin-Levrone added.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone on not giving her best at her debut Olympic appearance
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone could not qualify for the finals in her debut Olympic appearance in Rio. The American athlete spoke about her appearance in the Brazilian capital in her book and revealed that she felt as if she did not put forward her best performance.
"Honestly, I robbed myself of an opportunity. I don't know what would have happened, but I really didn't want to find out. I left Rio with the feeling that I had left something behind. It was very hard. It's not something you want to talk about, because you don't want people to be mad at you, but it was really my own thing," she wrote.
Furthermore, McLaughlin-Levrone revealed that was not mentally and physically ready to compete at such a global level. However, she took the learnings from her appearance as she continued her pursuit of success.