Two-time Olympic gold medallist Sydney McLaughlin is engaged just days after she shared an emotional video about those close to her not supporting her faith and accomplishments.
The Team USA hurdler, 22, got engaged to boyfriend and former NFL wide receiver Andre Levrone Jr. at the Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale in Arizona, the couple announced on Tuesday.
Levrone Jr., 26 — who spent two years playing for the Panthers, Jaguars and Ravens — got down on one knee in an outdoor setting surrounded by bouquets of flowers and candles.
McLaughlin donned an orange mini dress and brown open-toe heels as she held onto yellow sunflowers during the proposal. Jasmin Rojas, who photographed the couple’s engagement, shared a closeup photo of McLaughlin’s circular diamond ring on Instagram.
The bride-to-be penned a heartfelt letter to her future husband alongside a collage of photos from the romantic engagement.
“I fall in love with you more and more each day off of the strength of your faith. Andre, you are the most God-fearing, passionate, honest, loving, hard working, protective, and genuine man I’ve ever met,” McLaughlin wrote.
“I see Jesus in you. And as a result it makes you so easy to love. I truly did not know the definition of love until I met you; a sacrificial choice to lay down your life for the well being of another. With that being said, there is no one I’d rather lay down my life for.”
The engagement news comes just two days after McLaughlin posted a tearful 10-minute video to Instagram venting her frustration with social media critics and loved ones who “reject the Jesus living in me.”
McLaughlin recorded the video two days after the Olympic Trials in June, when she broke the 400m hurdlesworld recordto punch a ticket to the Tokyo Olympics. She went on to claim victory at the Summer Games andwon gold in the women’s 400m hurdles —crushing her own world recordwith a time of 51.46 seconds.
“Not even three days ago I literally achieved one of my of my life’s dreams of breaking a world record and I’m going to be honest, a lot of the people around me did not respond how I thought they would,” she said through tears.
“These are moments you remember for a lifetime. These are opportunities that you don’t get everyday. I felt like the people I thought would be the most excited for me literally almost didn’t even care. I have some really great people in life that love me more than I can say some family loves me, and I’m just going to be real — it hurts.
“Our world only accepts ignorance and it hurts my feelings and I find it very disrespectful that you can do everything right and it’ll never be enough. There’s still always a problem with you… I know they don’t reject me, they reject Jesus living in me… I could do nothing to so many people and that offends them.”
McLaughlin went on to admit she doesn’t want the fame that comes with being in the Olympic spotlight.
“As humans we were not made to be famous… I’m grateful for the platform and to be able to reach people but I don’t want it. When I tell you I don’t want fame, I don’t want any of that, it’s toxic. It genuinely, physically makes me sick,” she continued.
“I don’t want the fame. I would just like a little respect… You may not agree with my message, but in the sport at the age of 21 [she turned 22 on Aug. 7] to be a two-time Olympian and a world record holder, I would just like a little bit of respect, just a little bit. You guys can have all that other stuff.
“… People who’ve been my teammates who’ve watched me die every day at practice believe I’m standing here today because I have followers, because I’m light-skinned. I can’t control what color my skin is, who presses the follower button, but I can control what I do on that track and that’s the thing that doesn’t get the respect and it blows my mind.”
