Olympic track and field star Sydney McLaughlin recently discussed the role of her Christian faith in her all-star athletic career. Being a world-class athlete of her caliber invariably comes with a significant amount of attention, and McLaughlin explained how she strikes a balance between her privacy and fame.
Speaking about her popularity, she said, “I think it’s cool to be able to represent our sport and have people, you know, recognize track and field and want to watch it.” During the appearance on the “Journey to Gold Zone” podcast, she added “especially like younger athletes and whatnot, but I do think it is hard to live life when people are always trying to be in it.”
However, she maintained that having a sense of privacy is always great alongside representing the sport at such a a high level. “So, I do like to live a little bit more private life, but I also love representing our sport, so if that means you know get a little more notice, then great,” she added.
McLaughlin also emphasized that her faith is the foundation of her life. “I think faith is the foundation of, like you said my life,” she said, “and from there, like that helps me navigate everything…[its] the lens in which I view the world through, and so when I am navigating ups and downs and complications, it’s looking at it from the lens of, ‘Okay, how would God want me to deal with this? How would Christ deal with this?’ And you know, it helps a lot of the confusion that that can happen.”
The superstar athlete, who has also released a book, was asked if she feels pressure to succeed in other areas of life. “I think, honestly, like as opportunities arise, I just want to do them the best that I can,” she said. “I do like to write. Maybe not so much about life. I like to write poetry more so than anything else. But I think whether opportunities with brands or whatever it is, just doing it the best I can. And I feel like the track kind of speaks for itself.”
The Christian Tribune previously reported on Sydney McLaughlin’s past expressions of her faith. “[But with] Christ, being able to redirect that to him — that being the center and the focus of my identity…has helped everything else in my life to fall into place as it should be, which has been a blessing that’s helped on and off the track,” she said in a previous interview with Today.
“He has experienced our pains. Our losses, our betrayals, our hardships, and our sufferings. Having lived all these troubles and more, Jesus understands. He has grace for us, having stood against the same trials and more. Yet it doesn’t stop with all of the negative qualities of life. Though He can empathize with us on our grief, the beauty of His life is that faith replaces it with joy. He offers peace, healing, comfort, and hope. No matter the struggle, or the fight,” she wrote in a social media post earlier this year.
Featured image credit: Erik van Leeuwen, attribution: Erik van Leeuwen (bron: Wikipedia)., GFDL <http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sydney_McLaughlin_4x400m_Oregon_2022.jpg