Sometimes a silver medal is nothing more than a silver lining, a small consolation for an Olympian who failed to achieve his goal of winning gold or losing.
Other times, however, silver can be proof of the presence of a precious metal within, a just reward for an unwavering athlete who was not expected to reach the podium because his path was marked by incessant obstacles.
We would say obstacles, but Anna Cockrell overcame them without problems.
The former USC standout (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, behind only American teammate and favorite Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who set the world record en route to gold.
Shortly after the race, Cockrell, whose 2019 USC commencement speech went viral for her honesty in addressing her challenges with depression, could barely find the words to describe the emotional uplift 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.
(Rebecca Blackwell/Associated Press)
“Everyone knows I'm a chatterbox,” she said, “[but] I am speechless right now. I am a little bit in shock, I don't know if it is from joy or exhaustion. It took me a lot of effort to get here and I am thrilled to have made it.”
Cockrell had described his battle with depression during his commencement speech after graduating in three years with a 3.98 grade point average and in 2021 in a Players' Tribune article “Letter to My Younger Self” ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.
“I’ve struggled with depression off and on since 10th grade,” Cockrell said during the commencement speech. “I’m a perfectionist … and this year, the pursuit of perfection, the pursuit of maintaining this image that I built for myself, the pursuit of maintaining this image of the perfect student, the perfect student-athlete, the perfect leader, started to crush me.”
However, days after graduating from USC, Cockrell lost the baton in the NCAA 4×400 finals, costing USC a chance at a third consecutive championship and leading to further depression and personal dysfunction.
The NCAA championships were canceled the following year due to COVID, but in 2021 she led USC to the team title by winning the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles. She thanked her family, teammates and coaches, but did not leave out mental health professionals.
“I’m very lucky, very lucky to have access to medical care,” Cockrell said. “I’m very grateful to all the psychologists and therapists who have worked with me over the years because there was a time when I would say I had fallen into despair and hopelessness and I didn’t believe this was possible. But from 2019 until now I’ve been doing a lot of work off the track in a therapist’s office.”
His first-person article for the Players' Tribune newspaper laid out his struggles, though he harbored a vague hope that he had put them behind him. An excerpt:
This year, 2018-19, has already been the hardest year of your life. You went through a lot and trained really hard for this moment. Just a couple of months ago you wanted to quit athletics, quit school, quit everything. It got really dark. To be honest, you 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 damn baton.
I know you're thinking it, so I'll say it.
What was all this for?
…I'm now in Tokyo preparing to compete in my first Olympic Games. No matter what happens here, I'm important, I'm worthy, I'm valued, and I matter.
And what happened? More adversity. Cockrell was disqualified from the 400-meter hurdles final at the Tokyo Olympics for running in the wrong lane.
Three years later, who could blame spectators for expecting another calamity from Cockrell, now 26, and writing her off before Thursday's race began? But she outlasted Femke Bol of the Netherlands and took 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/Associated Press)
“I don’t know if I can put into words what I felt,” she said. “I was in a state of flow, I felt great and I was just moving. I was just thinking about getting over those obstacles, getting my knees up, being as clean as possible.
“You know how hard I fought to get to this moment. I’m an emotional person, I’m not afraid to get emotional, I just did it today. It was just instinct and I believed in my training.”
Cockrell then praised McLaughlin-Levrone, the world record holder and back-to-back Olympic gold medal winner in the 400-meter hurdles.
And McLaughlin-Levrone praised Cockrell, saying: “I'm so happy for Anna, that's a big deal for her and to win a silver medal is amazing for the United States.”
