U.S./USC athlete Anna Cockrell celebrates after winning the silver medal Thursday in the women’s 400-meter hurdles at the Paris Olympics. (Peter David Josek / AP)Steve Henson (LA Times) — Sometimes a silver medal is but a silver lining, a small consolation for an Olympic athlete who failed to achieve their goal of gold or bust.
Other times, though, silver can be proof of internal precious metal, a just reward for an unflinching athlete not expected to ascend the podium because their journey was pocked by ceaseless obstacles.
We’d say hurdles, but Anna Cockrell cleared those just fine.
The former USC standout student (first) and hurdler (second) finished a surprising second Thursday in the women’s 400-meter hurdles at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Saint-Denis, France, trailing only U.S. teammate and favorite Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who set the world record en route to gold.
Shortly after the race, Cockrell, whose USC commencement speech in 2019 went viral for its jagged honesty in addressing her challenges with depression, could hardly muster the words to describe the emotional buoyancy she was experiencing.
Gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, right, and silver medalist Anna Cockrell, left, both of the U.S., and bronze medalist Femke Bol of the Netherlands react at the end of the women’s 400-meter hurdles event. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)
“Y’all know I’m a yapper,” she said, “[but] I’m very much speechless right now. I’m a little bit in shock, I don’t know if it’s from the joy or the exhaustion. It took a lot to get here and I’m excited to have put it all together.”
Cockrell had described her battle with depression during the commencement speech after she graduated in three years with a 3.98 grade-point average and in 2021 in a Players’ Tribune “Letter to My Younger Self” article ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.
“I’ve battled depression on and off since 10th grade,” Cockrell said during the commencement speech. “I am a perfectionist … and this year, the quest for perfection, the quest to maintain this box that I built for myself, the quest to maintain this image of the perfect scholar, the perfect student-athlete, the perfect leader, it began to crush me.”
Days after the USC graduation, however, Cockrell dropped the baton in the 4×400 NCAA finals, costing USC a shot at a third consecutive championship, leading to more depression and personal dysfunction.
The NCAA championships were canceled the next year because of COVID, but in 2021 she led USC to the team title by winning the 100- and 400-meter hurdles. She thanked family, teammates and coaches, but didn’t leave out mental health professionals.
“I’m really lucky, really blessed to have access to care,” Cockrell said. “I’m really thankful for all the psychologists and therapists that have worked with me over the years because there was a time I would say I had fallen into despair and hopelessness and I didn’t think this was possible. But from 2019 until now I’ve put in a lot of work off the track in a therapist’s office.”
Her first-person Players’ Tribune article laid bare her struggles, while faintly hoping they were behind her. An excerpt:
This year, 2018–19, has already been the hardest year of your life. You went through so much and trained so hard for this moment. Just a couple months ago you wanted to quit track, quit school, quit everything. It got really dark. To be honest, it got to the point where you didn’t even want to be alive anymore.
And just when you thought life was getting better, you dropped the freaking baton.
I know you’re thinking it, so I’ll just say it.
What was it all for?
…. Now, I’m in Tokyo preparing to compete in my first Olympic Games. No matter what happens out here, I am important, I am worthy, I am valued and I matter.
So what happened? More adversity. Cockrell was disqualified from the 400-meter hurdles final at the Tokyo Olympics for running into the wrong lane.
Three years later, who could blame onlookers for expecting another calamity from the now 26-year-old Cockrell, writing her off before Thursday’s race had begun? But she outlasted Femke Bol of the Netherlands to take silver.
Former USC star Anna Cockrell reacts after winning the silver medal for the U.S. in the 400-meter hurdles at the Paris Olympics. (Ashley Landis / AP)
“I don’t know if I can put what it felt like into words,” she said. “I was just in flow, I felt really good and I was just going. Just thinking about getting over those hurdles, lifting my knees, being as clean as possible.
“You know how hard I’ve been fighting for this moment right here. I’m an emotional person, I’m not afraid to be emotional, I just went for it today. It was just instinct and believing in my training.”
Then Cockrell lauded McLaughlin-Levrone, the world record holder and back-to-back Olympic gold medal winner in the 400 hurdles.
And McLaughlin-Levrone lauded Cockrell back, saying: “I’m super happy for Anna, that’s a huge deal for her and to come out with a silver medal is amazing for the USA.”
latimes.com
___________
TrojanDailyBlog members — We always encourage you to add factual information, insight, divergent opinions, or new topics to the TDB that don’t necessarily pertain to any particular moderator post or member comment.
Anna Cockrell’s story is amazing. She’s “fought on” for years and I’m glad she won a silver medal. Continue to Fight On Anna!
The AP poll is out. As always, a scientific wild a$$ guess.
College football kicks off with FSU vs GT on Aug 24 in Dublin, Ireland Grant Hughes (247Sports) — Here are the odds for the biggest Week 0 and Week 1 CFB matchups this season: Penn State at West Virginia (Aug. 31) Odds: Penn State -10.5 West Virginia returns QB Garrett Greene and a stacked backfield that ranked No. 4 nationally in rushing yards last season, giving oddsmakers optimism the Mountaineers can make it a closer game this fall. Florida State at Georgia Tech (Aug. 24) Odds: Florida State -12.5 78% of the money is on FSU to cover. North Dakota State at Colorado… Read more »
I think SC beats LSU in a close game. Defense will be better than last season
A must win … especially with at Michigan looming
Big year for LR vs that brutal schedule
Somebody is confused. USC’s web schedule has the LSU game on Sunday 9/01/24. This has it on Saturday 8/31/24.
USA women come from 10 points down in the 3rd quarter to beat France 67-66.
The back-and-forth affair was tied 11 times before the USA women won their eighth straight basketball gold.
All 329 medal events have now concluded.
For the first time ever, there is a tie for gold medals, and it’s between the US and China with 40 each.
The USA overwhelmingly won the competition for total medals 126 (3rd highest Team USA total ever) – 91.
What banned substances were the Chinese on? Maybe it won’t take 4 years to find out like in Tokyo. 15 medals for Trojans. If USC were a country we would be tied for 12th in the world. Rai Benjamen double gold and Nicole Yeargin double bronze.
The two women/men with Swyer Syndrome won gold in women’s boxing, an Algerian and a Taiwanese. But hey, it would be mean not to let them compete! Who cares about the women they beat?
Great day for international sports. Over 10 thousands athletes from over 200 countries at the Olympics and not a single one tested positive for PEDs. Guess no one is cheating anymore. Right! Or else the World Anti Doping Association is looking the other way as in the case of 23 Chinese swimmers at Tokyo are allowed to compete anyway.
Anna Cockrell! Fight the **** On! What a combo! A perfectionist with depression. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Whatever your mistakes, like us all, you are forgiven!
Caleb Williams looks good in his Bears’ debut and 33-6 blowout win over Bills Josh Schrock (Y!Sports) — ORCHARD PARK, New York — The Caleb Williams era made its unofficial debut Saturday in the Bears’ preseason game against the Buffalo Bills, and it didn’t take long for the No. 1 overall pick to create some magic. On first-and-10 from their own 40, the Bears dialed up a screen to running back D’Andre Swift. Williams got quick pressure in his face but flipped the ball to Swift with a nifty shovel pass, and the running back bolted 42 yards down to the Bills’ 18-yard line. On… Read more »
Watch out CW is a rare talent … sky is the limit
C’mon men’s water polo, beat Hungary for the Bronze! 2 more medals for Trojans left.
USC/Olympics Day 16 Recap — Three Golds, One Silver and Two Bronze Medals For Trojans Today In Track, Women’s Water Polo and Soccer USCTrojans.com — PARIS, FRANCE — USC had its most medal-packed day in Paris with a set of six Olympic medals earned by Trojans today. The first of the day to step on a podium were women’s water polo stars Anni Espar and Tilly Kearns, with USC alum Espar claiming Spain’s first gold medal. A current Trojan, Kearns now has her first Olympic medal with a silver. A couple hours later, USC grad Croix Bethune was holding gold as a member of Team… Read more »
USC with 11 medals as a country, 9 team medals and 2 individual, is tied with Sweden for 18th. I saw that every Big10 school has an athlete at Paris. Wonder how USC ranks? Course it depends on how they count it, current students or current plus alumni.
I’m hearing more and more people, sports talking heads, and CFB journalists talk up RUT as a possible sleeper team this year. USC plays the Scarlet Knights in the Coliseum on Oct. 19. They are sandwiched between Trojan trips to College Park, MD, and Husky Stadium in Seattle. The Athletic also projects RUT as one of 13 unranked teams who can crash the 12-team field. Trojan opponents UTAH ST and WIS also make the 13-team list, and also play in the Coliseum this season — what a terrific 2024 home schedule for USC (UTAH ST, WIS, PSU, RUT, NEB,… Read more »
Look for Rutgers and Nebraska to be two teams that take a big leap forward this year.
Both will be very tough games for SC to win.
Both are coached by NFL guys who know how to play in and win tight games. Thats pretty much all NFL games.
Glad we get both at home.
NEB has amazing support and crowds in Lincoln, one of the truly great places to see a game, and RUT is 2,766 miles away from USC by car, and almost five hours by plane.
If USC splits the Mich, ND, Penn St and LSU games and wins the rest they deserve the playoffs.
LSU a must win … at Michigan who knows
PennSt at home is huge. See where we are at vs ND, hopefully the Irish will be playing the spoiler role then.
Ehhh in Nebby … great tradition, amazing fans but destined to be 8-4 tops 6-6 mostly
Boy, what should be a sure win. Rutgers has to travel to the west coast and play late on a Friday night. Now it might be a tough game for the Trojans? Man, not gonna get a break this season?
That’s what happens when you’re coming off a bad 7-5 trainwreck, then win against a watered-down team in the just-up-the-road Holiday Bowl with many new 2024 coaches replacing old bad habit cast-offs. At least USC will already have seven games under its belt and the Coliseum lights overhead vs RUT. I’m still predicting 8-4 reg season results. With this schedule, that’s not bad as long as the team looks like it has improved a lot and performs better against the tougher teams. There’s a terrific amount of uncharted territory for USC here, not to mention a lot of remaining mystery… Read more »
LR could help the team this season if he would slow down his offensive playcalling not trying to score ASAP doing purposeful ball control eating up
some clock and not putting more pressure on his defense having to be on the field more than it needs to. Our advantage is having a wide open offensive scheme forcing the opponent to be honest in not cheating up or back on the field defensively. With this advantage LR could out game manage the clock on his opponent’s HC which assuredly will be what those coaches want to do to us.
Game management and the clock are definitely areas that LR needs to improve at in 2024.
As you suggest, you just know B1G teams will be trying to brutalize USC on the ground.
It was Impossible to control anything with that poorus, embarrassing D.
That poorly coached slop was so out of position and confused no lead was ever safe as we witnessed numerous times (at Colorado up 42-14, mid 3rd and barely hang on). A 60 yd Play and 80yd 3 play TD drives over and over. Lynn has more pride than that hack Grinch.
The D should be much much improved especially vs impaired blah Big 10 teams. Meanwhile I like SC’s O scheme vs predictable mediocre talented D’s in Big 10.
Two questions. Can USC run the ball? Does LR have the discipline to control the clock with the run?
As usual I have no idea. We’re going to find out quick. LSU DL is not considered one of the best…..so Riley should test it early and often. Of course that is what a good coach would do……an offensive genius…..not sure. I’ve critiqued Riley for his lack of recruiting the best linemen but he does have a couple very young tackles that could turn out just fine, if they stay healthy. Combined with the outstanding receivers Riley has recruited this could be a really explosive offense. If he slants it to take advantage of the powerful speed and hands in… Read more »
LR’s scheme features many short passes that are basically run plays. Watch out if Z Branch stays healthy, kid is a freak!
My thinking GT, Big Ten defenses have been known to stack the box with 7 or 8 players within 2 or 3 yards of the LOS. LR can combat that by spreading out 3-4 WRs and forcing the defense to have to cover more players outside the box. In fact, USCs passing game could open up the running game having man advantage in blocking schemes for our runners to gain 4/5 yards runs.
What surprises me is that in 2022 USC averaged 37passing 34 rushing plays per game. In 2023 they had 36 passing and 28 rushing average per game. I have always felt Riley has no problem running the ball as long as they have a run game. When you talk about clock management would you want him to run more? I always looked at it like if the opponent wanted to grind it out, let him. Score fast, and get a few stops and you win.
CW stopped running the ball in 2024
I would hope he can keep the offense on the field to eat up the clock with short passes and runs of hopeful 4 yards to keep our defense fresh and not spent by the 4th quarter. I don’t know if I have seen LR attempt purposeful ball control. Seems Air Raid was originally said created to control the clock using short passes. But LR likes to fly down the field and score too quickly at times. Once he refused to slow down his offense against Utah and scored with enough time for the Utes to score at the very… Read more »
JuJu Smith-Schuster landing spots: Best fits for veteran WR following release from Patriots Jared Dubin (CBSSports.com) — The New England Patriots are moving on from their most notable free agent signing of the 2023 offseason, releasing veteran WR JuJu Smith-Schuster. Smith-Schuster signed a three-year, $25.5 million contract with the Patriots just last offseason, with the Pats apparently choosing him over retaining Jakobi Meyers, who left for a similar deal with the Las Vegas Raiders. Smith-Schuster’s release saves the Patriots just $647,059 against the cap, according to Over the Cap, and he will carry a dead-money charge of $2.63 million in 2025 as well. Potential landing… Read more »
Get ready for Men’s and Women’s Flag Football as a medal sport in the 2028 L.A. Olympics (70 yd long field, each team with five players/no linemen, two 20-min halves).
Shotgun Spratling (USCFootball.com) — “We’re hearing more and more about the leaders on this team. “Cohesiveness was the big question last year. It was a big issue last year. The team didn’t really come together as a full team. “Talking with people behind the scenes and whatnot, that seems to be remedied a little bit. Once you get hit in the mouth, things may change. So we’ll see if that’s the case. “Everything seems to be heading in the right direction with the young pups (much bigger team overall, also with the veterans), especially if the team (in particular ever-growing… Read more »
206 countries have athletes in the Paris Olympics. USC as a country is tied for 28th with 6 medals. Seven Trojans have a medal. With 2 days to go USC will get 3 more for sure and 10 more still with a chance.
Did anyone see pictures of Gavin Meyer? He has huge pads and a strange half shirt jersey. Looks like he borrowed them from Willie Mcginest.
Glad Anna came through to win a medal. Wonder what happened to Michael Norman & Kendal Ellis?
Norman looked gassed and nervous before his race even started.
Ellis is one of my favorite USC track athletes ever. She was never in contention, running from an inside sharper turning lane.
They are still alive for tomorrow.
USC CB Maliki Crawford ruled out for the season after fall camp injury USC loses a young DB for the 2024 season. Lincoln Riley did not reveal injury specifics. Chris Trevino (USCFootball.com) — “Crawford (6-4, 195) was not expected to play a major role for the defense this season after redshirting last year with injury. Crawford was an early enrollee from Pacifica Oxnard, CA, for the 2023 class but did not practice at all in spring camp and virtually all of fall, instead rehabbing. He returned late in the season during Holiday Bowl prep, but he did not play… Read more »
Watched her qualifying race and she held her hand up in starting blocks. Thought it was a false start or something. I don’t know track rules but it looked strange. Anyway, it all turned out well. And silver is awesome considering Syndney doesn’t lose
USC center Jonah Monheim has been selected to the 2024 Rimington Trophy (most outstanding CFB OC) Watch List even though he’s never even started a game, or played a snap at center for USC before — despite 40 game appearances.
That’s how valuable Monheim is to the Trojans this year.
Aaron Dunn, a 4-star tackle decides to stay home and commits to Utah and the Big 12. There is a pattern here more times than not, of players staying at home. We’ even it happen everywhere and the Trojan coaching staff needs to appreciate this fact in staying home more to recruit.
Agreed, especially until recruits trust USC to become elite again. And USC also needs to start getting in on local kids much earlier, because at this stage, outside big-time programs smell blood in USC’s recruiting water — and are all over Calif prep prospects like a cheap suit. LR and members of his staff need to really start emphasizing their all-important relationships with Calif prep coaches more to help stave off the out-of-state flow of elite preps. Prep coaches can influence recruiting outcomes by doing even just small things. Here’s what I posted yesterday about losing Dunn to UTAH. 8/8… Read more »