Fall 2024
Olympics Track and Field

Christ-follower Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone claims another Olympic gold, world record

By Kevin Mercer Aug 8, 2024
Women's 400m hurdles Olympic gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the U.S., Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Expectations were as high for American runner Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone as for perhaps any other athlete entering the 2024 Paris Olympics. And after Thursday’s women’s 400-meter hurdles final, maybe those expectations weren’t high enough.

McLaughlin-Levrone pulled away while rounding the backstretch to blow away the field, win by more than a second, and set a new world record with an incredible run of 50.37 seconds. Anna Cockrell of the United States nabbed the silver while Femke Bol of the Netherlands took bronze.

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After the race, as per usual, McLaughlin-Levrone directed all glory to her Heavenly Father.

“I credit all that I do to God,” she said in her post-race press conference. “He’s given me a gift, He’s given me a drive to just want to continue to improve upon myself, and I have a platform and I want to use it to glorify Him. So whenever I step on the track it’s always the prayer of, ‘God, let me be the vessel in which You’re glorified, whatever the result is — how I conduct myself, how I carry myself, not just how I perform.’ So it’s just freedom in knowing that regardless of what happens, He’s going to get the praise through me. That’s why I do what I do.”

McLaughlin-Levrone, who turned just 25 on Wednesday, already has three Olympic Games under her belt and now three Olympic gold medals to her name. She has now set a new world record six times in the 400m hurdles over the past five years, the most recent one before Thursday’s race coming less than two months ago at the U.S. Olympic Trials (50.65 seconds). She is widely considered one of the most popular female track stars in American history, and she’s a regular on national television commercials and one of the faces of Team USA.

She’s become an international superstar all while remaining a boldly yet gracefully unashamed follower of Christ.

After her semifinal run of the 400m hurdles in Paris, McLaughlin-Levrone talked about her trust in God in an interview with NBC’s Lewis Johnson.

“You work all year to get here, but what you’ve done is what keeps you here,” she said. “So it’s just about executing that, trusting the process, trusting the plan, and ultimately, trusting God.”

McLaughlin-Levrone also credited her husband, Andre Levrone Jr., for being “my best friend, my biggest supporter, my personal pastor. I love him more than life itself.” The couple married in May 2022.

McLaughlin-Levrone writes that she is “resting in Jesus’ grace” in her X bio, and she declares that “Jesus is Lord” on Instagram. She talks openly and often about her faith in Christ on both social media platforms.

“Let me start off by saying, what an honor it is to be able to represent not only my country, but also the kingdom of God,” she captioned an Instagram post after the Tokyo Olympics. “What I have in Christ is far greater than what I have or don’t have in life. I pray my journey may be a clear depiction of submission and obedience to God. Even when it doesn’t make sense, even when it doesn’t seem possible. He will make a way out of no way. Not for my own gratification, but for His glory.

“I have never seen God fail in my life. In anyone’s life for that matter. Just because I may not win every race, or receive every one of my heart’s desires, does not mean God had failed. His will is PERFECT. And He has prepared me for a moment such as this. That I may use the gifts He has given me to point all the attention back to Him.”


Away from the track, McLaughlin-Levrone wrote a book called “Far Beyond Gold: Running From Fear to Faith,” which was released in January. In the book, she shares her testimony and talks about how her relationship with Christ has helped her battle perfectionism and anxiety.

In addition to her numerous public comments about her faith, McLaughlin-Levrone was featured as the cover story in the Summer 2024 edition of Sports Spectrum Magazine and has been a guest on the Sports Spectrum Podcast multiple times, first in 2021 and again this past January.

“There’s been a lot of talk that I’ve received just about, you know, ‘You might not want to talk so much about [faith]. You might lose endorsements, you might lose deals, this, that, and the third,'” McLaughlin-Levrone said on the podcast in 2021. “But, I mean, I don’t live for the approval of people, so I don’t have to worry about any of those things. And even if an endorsement or something wants to leave, I know that God will provide for me in the way He sees fit. So I’m not going to compromise the truth just to make people feel more comfortable.

“… I continue to speak the truth because I know it’s what I’m called to do, and just grateful to have community around me and supports me through that even if all the people outside of that don’t.”

“In a sport where you’re literally chasing gold all the time, I would take my love for Christ and that relationship over a gold medal any day,” she said later in the podcast.

For the rest of her life, McLaughlin-Levrone will be known as one of the best track athletes in Olympic history. She’ll be known as a three-time gold medalist (with maybe more to come) and someone who held a world record. Still, she knows that all of it pales in comparison to her identity in Christ.

“For a long time, track was who I was,” she said on the podcast in 2021. “But now more than ever, first and foremost I’m a child of God, and track is not who I am, it’s what I do.”

>> Do you know Christ personally? Learn how you can commit your life to Him. <<

RELATED STORIES:
– Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone breaks world record: ‘Anything is possible in Christ’
– SS PODCAST: Olympic champ Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone on new book, Olympic prep
– Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone wins 400m at U.S. championships: ‘God’s grace is sufficient’
– Annette Echikunwoke trusted Christ on long journey to hammer throw Olympic silver
– 20 Christ-following U.S. Olympians to watch at the 2024 Paris Games

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