An Olympic athlete declared that “anything is possible in Christ” after breaking a world record in the lead-up to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
Sydney McLaughlin Levrone, an outspoken Christian track athlete, broke a world record at the United States Olympic team trials for track and field in Eugene, Oregon, Sunday. When asked about her thoughts on her accomplishments in an interview with NBC Sports, Levrone proclaimed: “Praise God.”
“I was not expecting that,” she added. “He can do anything. Anything is possible in Christ.”
Levrone concluded her brief remarks by describing herself as “amazed, baffled and in shock.” Levrone’s comments followed her finishing the women’s 400-meter hurdles in 50.65 seconds, breaking her previous world record and beating the second-place finisher by nearly 2 seconds. The athlete’s strong performance secured her a spot at this year’s Olympic Games, slated to begin later this month in Paris, France.
Sunday is not the first time Levrone has brought up her Christian faith since bursting onto the national stage as a celebrated track and field athlete. In 2022, as she broke her own world record in the 400-meter hurdles at the World Athletics Championship in Eugene, Levrone took to Instagram to give gratitude to God.
Levrone quoted from Hebrews 4:16 in the post: “‘So let us come BOLDLY to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.’”
“Praise. His. Name,” she added. “What a beautiful day yesterday was. Preparing for this meet, the core of my team was centered around faith and belief. The amount of prayer coupled with hard work was divinely culminated in 50.68 seconds. By the grace of God, we accomplished our goal.”
Levrone vowed to “continue pushing the bounds of the sport because, with God, all things are possible!” The athlete’s performance in the 400-meter hurdles in the 2022 World Athletics Championship constituted an improvement from the world record she set at the 2021 Summer Olympic Games the previous year, where she also gave thanks to God for her athletic success.
“Giving the glory to God,” she said after completing the race in 51.46 seconds. Levrone’s eagerness to share her Christian faith extends beyond her athletic career and into her personal life.
In 2021, as she became engaged to former football player Andre Levrone, the track star praised her then-fiancé as “the most God-fearing, passionate, honest, loving, hard-working, protective, and genuine man I’ve ever met” and someone who possesses “everything I’ve prayed for.” In a social media post addressed to her “future husband,” Levrone told him, “I fall in love with you more and more each day off of the strength of your faith.”
In an earlier interview with The Christian Post, Levrone said, “The one thing that’s unchanging is my faith in Christ, and that is the most valuable thing.” Levrone added that her life’s purpose is “being able to share that truth with people and allow them to come to know and love the Lord in the way in which I have come to know and love.”
“God has been so kind in just allowing me the opportunity to, first of all, fail without Him and realize my need for Him,” she continued. “Living my life for so long apart from Him and trying to succeed in a worldly measure of what success looks like, it always left me empty even when I attained it.”
Levrone told CP that perfection was “unattainable in this life” and encouraged readers to “always strive for excellence” and “always strive to do things … in a manner worthy of the calling of God.” Acknowledging that “we are fallen, sinful humans who will fall short in this life,” she contended that, “in trying to attain perfection, we’re diminishing the need for Christ.”
“In appreciating Him as our Savior, we humble ourselves to realize that we are not perfect,” she added. “The Lord is sufficient in all things, and being able to glorify Him throughout my career and through my life on the track has shown me a purpose bigger than myself.”
Originally published by The Christian Post
