By Kyle Merber
August 16, 2023
No matter how hard Bobby Kersee tries, I still refuse to sign up for the LA Times’s limited-time offer to new subscribers – $1 for 6 months of digital access! That’s infinitely more expensive than following Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone on Instagram who shared in a story, “After consulting with my doctors and coaches, I need to take care of a minor knee issue so that I can be fully healthy for next year’s Paris Olympics. I look forward to seeing everyone back on the track soon!”
That sort of bombshell deserves an in-feed timeline post!
I am not on Sydney’s medical staff so who knows to what extent this knee pain is minor. It was a bit over three weeks ago that the same injury was cited for pulling out of the Monaco Diamond League and this was announced nine days before the first round of the 400m. Seems sort of serious.
The reaction to this news is fairly unsurprising. People are upset. But not necessarily at Sydney. Remember, this news came just days after coach Kersee made some comments about the possibility of Athing Mu training rather than competing this summer, and so there was already ample criticism swirling about his methods and commitment to the health of the sport.
From a competition perspective, Sydney ran 48.74 at the US Championships and was poised to break the American Record. There was still quite a bit of distance between her and Marita Koch’s 47.60, but that didn’t stop fans from daydreaming. And with eight women entered at the World Championships who have already run under 50 seconds this year, there was potential for some great racing.
But the main reason fans are screaming, “this is why we can’t have nice things!” from the rooftops is that Sydney is popular and actually transcends our little bubble. Where are all the rockstar runners you ask? Well, at least one lives in Los Angeles but goes back to New Jersey for Thanksgiving.
Fans’ outrage was to be expected. Much weirder was how track’s various governing bodies handled it… or rather, didn’t. The greatest draw to any modern track meet suddenly withdraws the week before the biggest championship of the year, and not a word is said by World Athletics or USATF. Just crickets. The same week Sydney drops out of the World Championships, there were two interview posts highlighting her World Record from last year, another graphic of the match-up between her and Paulino, her face in the center of a Team USA poster, another asking the rhetorical question of who the greatest 400m hurdler of all time is, and finally an animation wishing her a happy birthday. But no acknowledgment of far and away the biggest news story of the lead-up.
Like, I empathize with the amount of energy that is put into promoting one athlete only to have that strategy crumble before the social media team’s eyes. But bad news is news and it’s part of the sport and that drama is what makes it interesting to follow. Have we learned nothing during the post-Usain Bolt era? One athlete will not save us. But making the sport easier to follow by telling the important stories might.
This isn’t just Sydney, but the quiet omission of other major stars’ issues, like world record holder Tobi Amusan currently being under a provisional suspension for whereabouts violations. After multiple unfounded reports of the Nigerian star’s clearance to compete this week made the rounds in the news cycle, World Athletics finally came out in an email message to journalists saying those reports were false.
My weekly call to action for more communication and transparency from organizing bodies and athletes continues!
It’s a tired analogy, but imagine if the MLB didn’t mention a missed Justin Verlander start in the World Series. Or if Patrick Mahomes just never ran onto the field for the Super Bowl. There might be some confused fans in Budapest wondering why Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone isn’t there. They came all that way to wish her a belated happy birthday!
Kyle Merber
After hanging up his spikes – but never his running shoes – Kyle pivoted to the media side of things, where he shares his enthusiasm, insights, and experiences with subscribers of The Lap Count newsletter, as well as viewers of CITIUS MAG live shows.
