16-year-old Sydney McLaughlin qualifies to go to Rio Women's 400MH US Olympic Trials 2016

runnerdnerd wrote:

post race interview: "I'm just glad it is over."

If I were her coach, I'd be calling you the agents of American track athletes who made the team at 16, 17, 18 years old in past Olympics. I would ask them to please set up a meeting so they can help her cope with the pressure.

She obviously isn't handling it well. She told her coach she didn't want to go to trials and had no interest competing at trials or the olympics.

She is a 16 year old girl (who happens to be an athletic phenom), she needs people to help her learn the skills to deal with her talent and success or she will burn out. It would be a shame for her if she lost the sport that had the potential to bring her lots of joy and success, but she clearly currently is hating.

She did fine. The last thing she needs is a bunch of strangers to interfere with her preparation. She's an Olympic athlete now. The reason she is there is more than physical. She'll be fine.

You need to get out more.

I think just about everyone who qualified for Rio would agree they are "glad it's over".

Just look at her. She's at least 30.

She'll take the fall off, have a low key indoor season and will recharge her batteries.

Just because people act like morons on this board everyday doesn't mean that they shouldn't be called out for what they are.

Maybe I'm being a moron ... but what exactly is it that Runnerdnerd wrote that has earned your righteous indignation? Was it the audacious suggestion that a 16 y/o might need a little assistance in handling the pressures of racing in front of millions? Agree or disagree, fine. But the pressure of the olympics is a real issue for even the vets. And the topic of young athletes feeling pressure to perform is hardly novel.

It seemed she was just plain tired of being under a national spotlight. Totally understandable. I'm guessing she's an introvert. Nothing wrong with that. She'll get more comfortable in the lime light over time.

gnome de plume wrote:

Just because people act like morons on this board everyday doesn't mean that they shouldn't be called out for what they are.

Maybe I'm being a moron ... but what exactly is it that Runnerdnerd wrote that has earned your righteous indignation? Was it the audacious suggestion that a 16 y/o might need a little assistance in handling the pressures of racing in front of millions? Agree or disagree, fine. But the pressure of the olympics is a real issue for even the vets. And the topic of young athletes feeling pressure to perform is hardly novel.

Early on, some people had posted some typical LRC posts, but they have been deleted since then. My assumption is that he was actually responding to those, but clicked "reply" to the post at the very bottom, which was my first post on this thread. His indignation would be justified if you read those deleted posts, but they were also obvious troll posts so most people just ignored them.

Diego Puerty wrote:

http://espn.go.com/espnw/sports/article/16967079/olympic-track-field-trials-2016-teenager-sydney-mclaughlin-battles-nerves-reach-rio

Good post race interview and writeup.

Based off her interviews I think she is fine and I also slightly disagree on them needing to try to find help or have her talk to people. Some of that will come naturally but if I were them, which I'm not and don't know the situation at all; I would just be constantly reminding how awesome it is that she qualified and say there are no expectations in Rio other than to get an awesome trip and get a chance to race against some good competition. She has nothing to lose what so ever. Yes it's the Olympics so she will feel pressure and get nervous, but hey she's already there, go have fun, run fast and be excited to tell the kids about it when school starts.

history

From watching her interviews I thought that she came off kinda rude and acted like she was better then everyone. She did not seem very friendly.

Losing will be good for her. Her ego needs to be hit down a bit.

at 16, she's already done more in one season than most will do in an entire career.

Run4 wrote:

From watching her interviews I thought that she came off kinda rude and acted like she was better then everyone. She did not seem very friendly.

I.e. This 16 year old girl has already accomplished more than I have thus far and ever will in my life. I hate that and I hate myself!

Elite1 wrote:

Losing will be good for her. Her ego needs to be hit down a bit.

i.e. This 16 year old girl is famous, good looking, better at what she does than I am at what I do, and she will soon be making more money that I do as well. I feel weak and insecure about these facts, so I'll do the only thing that I can do (since I can't run fast enough for anyone to take notice) - I'll take anonymous potshots at a little girl on a messageboard and that will somehow compensate for my own deficiencies as a human being.

Run4 wrote:

From watching her interviews I thought that she came off kinda rude and acted like she was better then everyone. She did not seem very friendly.

And I am sure your 16-year-old self just had the finest interview skills after being exhausted while competing with the pros.

And she is better than almost everyone, so it is understandable how she might act that way.

I'm not saying that she is not an amazing talent, I'm just saying that she does not seem like a very nice person compared to the interviews from the other high schoolers. This is nothing about her talent, but that she just didn't seem to be in a good mood.

What's amazing is that she will be ranked 4th going into Rio.

She is just a high school junior, or rather she just finished her junior year. Won't turn 17 until August. In some situations she'd only be a rising junior.

She ran fast enough as a freshman to have qualified for the Olympic Trials finals as a high school freshman. Insane.

I'm interested to see how she progresses. Maybe she will turn pro while still in high school. She certainly has the attributes you'd want in a spokeswoman.