All About Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone's Parents, Willie and Mary McLaughlin

Willie and Mary McLaughlin welcomed Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in 1999

Willie and Mary McLaughlin have watched their daughter, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, blossom into a star athlete.

The Dunellen, N.J., native is a three-time Olympic gold medalist with a penchant for breaking records. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, she broke her own world record in the 400-meter hurdles.

“She’s been really blessed with talent that other people simply don’t have,” Willie said to the Associated Press in 2017 about his daughter’s success.

For her part, Sydney recognizes that her parents provided her with a strong foundation.

“I credit them so much for how they handled my young years,” Sydney told the Jesus Calling podcast in 2024. “They didn’t want to overwhelm me with rigorous training at a young age. They really wanted me to grow and develop number one, my body, and number two my love for the sport naturally.”

“It's crazy now,” Willie said in an interview with Runnerspace.com in 2017. “Everyone wants to take a picture with her, get an autograph. ... It's unreal at times.”

From their college romance to raising four accomplished athletes, here's everything to know about Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone's parents, Willie and Mary McLaughlin.

They are former athletes

Willie racked up a slew of accolades as a college track star: He attended Manhattan College in New York City, where he was a three-time NCAA All-American in the 400-meter, a three-time IC4A outdoor 400-meter champion and earned All-East honors in the indoor 400-meter four times.

Willie was also a semi-finalist in the 400-meter at the 1984 U.S. Olympic Trials and was inducted into the Manhattan College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997.

Meanwhile, Mary was a track star in high school in Tonawanda, N.Y., and held the role of student manager of the men's track team at Manhattan College.

Mary competed on the boys team

While her daughter has broken several records in her decorated career, Mary is a trailblazer herself.

The Buffalo, N.Y., native, who was then known as Mary Neumeister, ran track on the boys team with her brother John at Cardinal O’Hara High School in the 1970s.

“O’Hara didn’t have a girls team when I was there,” she explained during an interview with The Buffalo News in 2021. “I was doing summer track before I ever got to O’Hara, so it was just a natural thing for me to run on the boys team."

Mary added, "I think the year before I got there, there were a couple of girls on the team, so I wasn’t the first."

She frequently faced off against boys from other schools in the 400-meter dash and in relays.

“I held my own. I did OK," Mary remarked.

They met in college

Willie and Mary are college sweethearts, recalling their first meeting in an op-ed for Runnerspace.com in 2023.

“Just over a year after I started running, I met my wife, Mary, on the very first day that I arrived on campus at Manhattan College," he wrote. "Mary had been a runner long before then and was a student manager of the men’s track and field team."

Willie added, "It is hard to tell whether she is more in love with the sport now or back then, because her passion for it never wanes.”

They have four children

Sydney, who was born on Aug. 7, 1999, is the third of Willie and Mary’s four children. Their oldest, Morgan, was born on May 5, 1994. She competed as a sprint hurdler and long jumper for St. Peter’s University in New Jersey, with her father describing her in his Runnerspace op-ed as "extremely strong and deceptively fast."

She was followed by their son, Taylor, whom Willie playfully noted in the same op-ed had seemingly been born with “fully defined abs and massive quadriceps.”

Taylor attended the University of Michigan, where he competed in the 400-meter hurdles and made the 2016 Olympic team. Their youngest, Ryan, was a talented sprint hurdler and shot putter in high school but opted not to compete at the collegiate level.

The kids all followed in their parent's footsteps, but according to Willie, it was not by design.

“Mary and I saw the tremendous potential in our kids at an early age and tried to protect and nurture it in a way that would allow them to fall in love with the sport on their own,” he told Runnerspace.com in 2023. “It didn’t matter so much to us how well they performed as youth athletes, but it did become increasingly more important when looking to secure a college scholarship.”

“We wanted them to perform best when it counted most,” he added. “And that is still the case today.”

Sydney’s strong faith comes from her parents

Sydney has never shied away from speaking about her faith in post-race interviews and on social media. After winning the gold medal and shattering her own world record in the 400-meter hurdles event at the 2022 World Athletics Championships, the track star opened up about her motivation to NBC Sports.

“These past few days getting ready for this race, Hebrews 4:16 has been on my mind — coming boldly to his throne to receive mercy and grace. And I think (God) really gave me the strength to do it today, so all the glory goes to God,” she said.

Her parents also share this unwavering belief.

“It is our Christian faith that guides my wife and I along this journey,” Willie revealed an op-ed with Runnerspace.com in 2023. “And it is this same faith that we instilled in our kids.”

He continued, “This is important to us because it dictates how we view the world and how we treat the many people that we encounter along the way. Life is not always easy, and we make mistakes now and then.”

They knew Sydney was special

The world got its first glimpse of Sydney’s extraordinary athleticism when she won the 400-meter hurdles at the World Youth Championships as a 15 year old in 2015. This was the beginning of a dominant career on the global stage, but her parents weren’t surprised by her success.

“We had had our older daughter and our older son run, and they were very gifted,” Willie told NJ.com in 2016. “Then we saw (Sydney) run at 6 years old, and we just knew, okay, the other ones are very good but this one is a little different. It was just obvious.”

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.