Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has been running and competing at the Olympic level since she was 16 years old and still in high school. Five world records later, she entered the Paris 2024 Olympics as the most dominant athlete in her event: the 400 meter hurdles.
While she is a fierce competitor on the track, she speaks openly about overcoming fear and anxiety by finding rest in her identity in Christ. As you watch her compete for gold at the Olympics, you can also read the rest of her story about finding salvation by faith in her new book Far Beyond Gold.
In a poignant excerpt, she writes about how she learned to glorify Christ in her life on and off the track:
In much of my life, I felt like I had to balance two different people. On the track, I had to care only about being successful, while in my relationship with Andre, I had to be willing to sacrifice for him. When competing, my objective was to leave others in my wake, but while I was with my family, I was called to put them before myself. And to succeed as a professional track athlete, I had to be aggressive, a killer competitor. Yet off the track, I wanted to be humble, gentle, and kind. The Bible talks about having a meek and gentle spirit, which 1 Peter 3:4 says is precious in the sight of God. That sounded great. Problem was, how do you do that one minute, then the next want nothing more than to be the best in the world and destroy everyone you compete against? When I became a Christian, I knew I wanted to stop living like a “double- minded man” (or woman, in this case), as James 1:8 describes. That kind of inconsistency between my thoughts and behavior did not honor God and, to be honest, was exhausting to live with.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to figure all this out on my own. Now there were other believers in my life I could turn to. Between the NFL Bible study Andre had invited me to a few months earlier and another Bible study Andre started separately, there was plenty of counsel to hear from (Proverbs 15:22). Andre and I spent hours talking through my internal dilemma. Through those conversations, I began to realize that I didn’t have to live with my version of a split personality: a kind, soft- spoken, humble- minded person off the track and a killer competitor on it. Both were consistent with the Christian life.
How? The reason starts with a fundamental truth about my newfound identity. As a Christian, I now existed to glorify God (1 Corinthians 6:19–20; Matthew 5:16). At the beginning of 2021, I was learning all the ways my life wasn’t about me. It was about showing the world God’s power, wisdom, kindness, love, and forgiveness. There were a bunch of different ways to do that. Off the track, I could do that by serving others, putting their needs before mine, and being excited when God did a remarkable work in their lives (Philippians 2:3–4). On the track, I glorified God by running with all my mind and body. I honored him when I gave every scrap of energy I had to the task at hand. Because this was the gift God gave me to use, and by using it to the best of my ability and humbly redirecting the attention to him, he would be glorified.
I began to resonate with the famous words from the movie Chariots of Fire, which tells the story of Eric Liddell, a Christian sprinter and missionary: “God made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure.”9 That’s an amazing thought. He takes pleasure in us doing what we were made for. And win, lose, or draw, to run the race well is to glorify him.
Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith
One month before the Paris 2024 Olympics, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone broke the 400m hurdles world record for the fifth time. Arguably one of the most dominant athletes at the Olympics this year, she is also a follower of Christ.
From lifelong battles with perfectionism and anxiety to persistent questions about her identity and whether she was “enough,” Sydney is no stranger to obstacles on and off the track. As a multi-year world champion and Olympic gold medalist, her pursuit of perfection and people-pleasing continued for years … until God broke into her story with His overwhelming grace, transforming love, and empowering truth.
In Far Beyond Gold, Sydney takes you behind the scenes of the world stage and shares aspects of her story of faith in a way she has never shared publicly before. Not only will this give you a look at the life and faith of one of the world’s greatest athletes—this book will help you find strength in Christ for whatever hurdles you may be facing in life.
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