Racing against other people who are as good if not better. That was a constant battle of, am I enough? More than the standard she set on herself though, she also feels the immense pressure of the people's high expectations of and from her, with the Paris Olympics 2024 fast approaching, many are wondering if she's ready for it. As you all know, Sydney McLaughlin-Loveroni is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and world record-holding American sprinter and herdler. In 2016, she made history at age 16 as the youngest U.S. Olympian to compete in track and field since 1972. Then at the 2021 Tokyo Games, she cemented herself as a track's superstar by winning a gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles, breaking the world record of 51.46 seconds and later winning gold in the 4x400-meter relay. Should she compete in Paris, it would be her third Olympics. What's truly remarkable, in addition to her medals, of course, is the fact that she's only 24 and yet she's already on her third Olympic Games. Well, hopefully. So I feel like Paris, God willing, will be my first real full Olympic experience. Just in case you're getting a little bit confused about why Paris would be her real full Olympic experience, you should know that the past two Olympic Games she competed in and one medal from had not been at all that normal. That means that something happened at those times that is not a usual occurrence in such kinds of events. Normally, a competition, especially one as distinct as the Olympics, would be a loud event, mostly because of the audience cheering their respective favorites on. However, the past two Sydney attended were nothing of the sort. Rio, a lot of people didn't come first well because of Zika. I remember being in a stadium and it was like half empty. It wasn't the full Olympic experience and then obviously Tokyo, there's nobody there. Anyway, with the Paris Olympics just a few months away, many are wondering about which event she will be competing in. Those who have been following her progress in the past year are well aware that she switched from her specialty event of 400-meter hurdles to the flat 400-metres. Everyone knows how powerful she is in the 400-meter hurdles. There's no question about that, especially given the fact that she lowered the world 400-meter hurdles record for times between 2021 to 2022, including at the Olympic Games in 2021 and World Championships in 2022. Her 50.68 at those World Championships remains the only time anyone has ever run under 51 seconds. However, she remains a relatively untested quantity over 400-metres, with her planned major championships debut over the event at the 2023 World Championships falling through due to injury. Thus, Sydney has only run the distance twice internationally at 49.71 at a Diamond League meet and a 49.51 at a World Athletics Continental Tour goal, both in June. She did put in a 48.74 in the U.S. Championships, a time that was enough to rank her as the 10th fastest woman of all time. And she has a bonafide challenger to Miller O'Webow and Paulino, even if her lack of international experience at the distance, may be a drawback. In addition to her inexperience in the flats, although inexperience may be a stretch, but you get the gist, some are concerned if she is actually physically ready to compete and advance through the ranks, so to speak. As earlier mentioned, the two-time Olympic gold medalist had to withdraw from the 2023 World Athletics Championships due to a knee injury. In an Instagram story, she wrote how sad she was to withdraw and explain that after consulting with her doctors and coaches, it was decided that she needed to take care of a minor knee issue so that she could be fully healthy for the Paris Olympics. It was not an easy decision to make, but she had to prioritize one event over the other. Alongside being one of the best hurtlers to grace the track in the history of the sport, Sydney McLaughlin-Livrone is making her mark on paper, literally. At the end of January 2023, the athlete announced the launch of her book, Far Beyond Gold, running from fear to faith, marking her authorial debut. The book chronicles McLaughlin-Livrone's journey as an athlete, from how she first took to track to becoming the first woman to breach the 51-second mark in the 400-meter hurdles. In the book, the sprinter also divulges the more personal aspects of her life. She also opened up about how anxiety prevented her from performing at the 2016 Rio Olympics, after she became the youngest athlete since 1980 to qualify for the US Olympic track team. With her book, McLaughlin-Livrone hopes to help readers overcome their own struggles with anxiety. She experienced it herself and wouldn't want others to have to live through that. I still couldn't understand what all the fear was, all the anxiety, how to handle it, and so that was when I truly started seeking him. And so from there, the New Jersey native says her goal in life and athletics is just growth. Every day is like a learning experience, she said. As for when retirement will come, Sydney says that five years into her track and field career, she hasn't decided, but knows that day will come eventually. I obviously don't want to stay past my time, but at the same time, I want to use the gift until it's no longer time to be used. She says, I love track and field, and I think I'm going to do it the best I can for as long as I can, but it's also not my whole life. McLaughlin-Livrone says, she's at a stage in her career where she's refining her already formidable performance. I think every year my goal is to improve upon myself. I feel like you never really run a perfect race because there's always something you can improve upon, and that, to me, is the fascination of track. How can I get that 100th of a second to make the difference? That's her goal heading into the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, now that she's recovered from an e-endery she sustained toward the end of last year. Excellent to me is just, how can I get better every day? She says, What are those little things right now? It's nutrition, it's recovery, it's treatment. It's doing the exercises even when I'm tired after a long day. That, to me, is that little margin that makes the difference. On that note, when the track and field athletics program gets underway at the Stad de France during the Olympic Games Paris 2024 this summer, one of the most eagerly awaited showdowns will be that between Femke Kabul and Sydney McLaughlin-Livrone in the women's 400 meter hurdles, and potentially the 400 meter flat. It's a face-off that has been bubbling since the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, where McLaughlin-Livrone won the 400 meter hurdles title in a world record time while Bull came third. Sydney then announced her intentions in 2023 to compete over the flat, which has only upped the ante. Because it's in that event that Dutch woman Bull herself, a two-time world medalist in the hurdles event, has been making waves, especially indoors on a short track, although McLaughlin-Livrone has yet to commit to the flat for Paris, and Bull has not run the distance at either of the last two world championships. Needless to say, all eyes will be on them in the coming months. While Bull has competed several times this season already, Sydney is yet to be seen on the track, although the Olympian was seen training on a track in Los Angeles a few weeks back. She was seen running, performing a few drills on hurdles, and stretching along with the middle distance runner and Tokyo Olympic medalist, Hot Thing Moved. With expectations mounting, Sydney goes back to the basics. When you're in the race, I call it the flow state, you're not thinking. Your body's just doing what God's giving you a gift to do. And that too? When it's time to just go out there and do it, we know how to do. Let's watch out for Sydney when it's time. For now, watch how this athlete progressed so far in the season.