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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Jonathan Liew

Athing Mu: ‘Mentally I wasn’t present. I didn’t enjoy what was happening to me’

Athing Mu of the United States at the start of the Women's 800m final during the World Athletics Championships, at the National Athletics Centre on August 27th, 2023 in Budapest.
Athing Mu at the start of the 800m final at the 2023 world championships, her last championship race. Photograph: Tim Clayton/Corbis/Getty Images

‘Grace, gratitude, appreciation,” says Athing Mu of her approach to running, which by no small coincidence also happens to be her approach to life. We’re talking about learning and growth, about setbacks and what they can teach you, about expectations and when to let them go. About how to take joy from the process in this most brutally unequivocal of sports, where you win or you lose based on fractions of a second.

“Things are going to happen,” she says with a wisdom beyond her 22 years, via a video link from Los Angeles, where she lives and trains. “Say I run 10 more years. In those years, so many things will happen. It’s not going to be all smooth sailing. Problems that we have are lessons that we learn.”

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