Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Felt Like Michael Phelps at Tokyo Olympics: ‘I Could Hardly See’

"I think that's really just iron sharpening iron," Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone spelled these lines for her arch-rival, Dalilah Muhammad. She showcased her gratitude for the American legend for pushing her every time, challenging her limits. "I think that's what we do so well," she concluded her remark. However, both Sydney and Dalilah faced each other 13 times till the latter's retirement from track sports. So finding a motivation in Dalilah is not off-looking for the New Jersey native. But once, McLaughlin-Levrone took refuge in Michael Phelps's heroics to find motivation.

In the Tokyo Olympics, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone entered not as the 'Syd-the-kid'. Rather, after her debut in Rio, it was the first time she had to show her superiority to the world. Her mindset stamped that part. In fact, Sydney entered the Game after dismissing her rival, Dalilah's two-year-old world record in the 400m hurdles. So the zeal had already been there to cross the limits. In the meantime, she had her chance to mark that in the heat event.

According to the lines from Sydney's book, Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith, she had been slated to enter the second heat event before the 400mH final at the Tokyo Olympics. Dalilah had the first heat. Yet, the situation became complicated for McLaughlin-Levrone. Before her heat event, the torrential rainfall made the environment hostile to competing in the event like the 400mH. However, Sydney looked adamant about starting her event. Ultimately, she took off the flight on the track as soon as the gun had fired. But the droplets of rain hit her eyes like nothing else. She felt the blurred vision. In describing the moment, she wrote, "I could hardly see. The rain stabbed my eyes, making the hurdles look like moving objects." Meanwhile, she remembered Michael Phelps's situation in 2008.

Phelps experienced a similar problem at the Beijing Olympics when water got into his goggles. Finally, in the 200m butterfly event, he felt as if he was swimming blind because there was no solution.