"Was thrown into world stage not knowing what to expect"- Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone opens up on feeling 'overwhelmed' in her debut at Rio Olympics

At just 24 years old, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is already a three-time Olympian. The American made her debut at the Games in 2016, an experience she termed ‘overwhelming’, and went on to win gold in both the 2020 Tokyo and the 2024 Paris Olympics.

In 2016, McLaughlin-Levrone stunned the world when she qualified for the Rio Games aged just 17. She set a junior world record in the Trials en route to the Games and went on to finish fifth in the semifinals of the Olympics.

The hurdler has grown tenfold since then and is now a World Champion, two-time Olympic champion, and six-time world record holder. In a recent appearance on the Jennifer Hudson Show, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone shared how her experiences in Rio have helped shape her into the athlete who won gold at the Stade De France, saying,

“At Rio I was 17 years old, and was thrown into the world stage not knowing what to expect. I think I've learned so much since then, that now I can understand what it takes to compete at this level. So I think that experience, and Tokyo as well, just kind of prepared me for Paris. This was my first full, real Olympics, I feel like. So I was ready for it.”

McLaughlin-Levrone has previously called her experience at the Rio Games ‘overwhelming’, telling NJ.com back in 2016,

"It's so overwhelming. It's been so much. You eat next to people you're going to race against, world champions and Olympians. It hasn't hit me yet that I'm here. There's so much to take in at one time.”

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone calls Paris her first ‘real’ Olympics

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone at the 2024 Paris Olympics (Image Source: Getty)

After her semifinal finish at the Rio Olympics, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone would go on to stun the world at the Tokyo Games. In 2021, not only did the American storm to gold, she did so while setting a new world record and becoming the first woman to breach the 52-second mark.

However, with the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no crowd to cheer her on in Tokyo as opposed to Paris where a stadium of around 70,000 fans was rooting for her. Speaking after the 2024 Games, McLaughlin-Levrone called it her first ‘real’ Olympics, telling Olympics.com,

"Oh my goodness, the crowd is amazing; it's so loud in there. The whole experience, just having friends and family here, getting to see their faces. I mean, this really feels like the first full Olympic moment for me.

Since the Paris Olympics, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has gone on to race at the Brussels Diamond League invitational races, winning both the 200 and 400m. While the hurdler's plans for next year haven't been released yet, fans can expect to see her competing in Grand Slam Track between April and September 2025.