Allyson Felix's Athletic Journey Is More Than Crossing The Finish Line

Allyson Felix, a sensational sportsperson from the United States of America, is the first female track and field athlete to win 10 Olympic medals. She made her debut at the extravagant sporting event in 2004 when she was 17 years old. She scripted her name in history books when she won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics in August 2021. Now 37 and retired from competing, Felix continues to hold an inspiring legacy for athletes around the world. However, her accomplishments transcend the running track; she is an advocate for women of colour, a sportswear entrepreneur, and also has a huge influence on women's healthcare.

Felix, who welcomed her baby boy on April 10, is also passionate about maternal care specially catered to black women. She has openly spoken about her difficult pregnancy with Camryn, her first child, who was born in 2018. 

Felix's Athletic Career

Allyson Felix played a key role in the American sports landscape with her grand prowess in track and field. She made big waves as a 200-metre runner from 2003 to 2013 before making her way to 400-metre tracks.

At 200 metres, Felix is a three-time world champion from 2005–2009, the 2012 Olympic gold medallist, a two-time Olympic silver medalist in 2004 and 2008, and the 2011 world bronze medalist.

Felix holds the credit of setting a world junior record over 200 meters after receiving her first silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens at the age of 18.

Felix won the title of youngest gold medallist sprinter in the 200 meters at the World Championships in Helsinki in the year 2005. 

At 400 meters, she is the 2015 world champion, 2011 world silver medalist, 2016 Olympic silver medalist, 2017 world bronze medalist, and 2020 Olympic bronze medalist. 

Allyson Felix is also known for raising her voice against the neglect that most female athletes with children go through. In 2019, she exposed her then-sponsor Nike for not providing her with maternity protection, the New York Times reported.

In 2021, she broke the record for the highest Olympic medal tally by a female track and field athlete by surpassing Jamaica's Merlene Ottey, who is the receiver of nine Olympic medals.

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Felix announced her retirement from competing in 2022. Her last race was a charity run which she completed with her daughter Camryn on the streets of her hometown in Los Angeles. 

Motherhood & Maternity Care

Felix is an advocate for maternal care for women of colour. She has spoken about her "life-threatening" childbirth experience during her daughter's premature birth at 32 weeks. 

Taking to her social media account, Felix expressed what it means to her as a star athlete and a mother to be able to stay in the game. According to her getting to the starting line is an incredible victory after the hardest years of her life.

She wrote in a 2021 post, "As an athlete who was told I was too old, as a woman who was told to know my place, as a mother who wasn’t sure I would live to raise my daughter."

Now, after her son's birth on April 10, 2024, she posted, "After the traumatic delivery I had with Cammy due to severe pre-eclampsia, the most important thing I wanted from this birth was for my son and me to survive."

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She spoke about her passion for healthcare catering to black women. "Having a doctor who looked like me, understood my fear, listened and made me feel safe was everything!" she wrote.

In 2019, just 10 months after giving birth to her baby girl, Allyson Felix won her 10th and 12th titles. That year, she became the athlete with the most medals at the track and field world championships.

Entrepreneurship As A Black Woman

Allyson Felix is the founder of Saysh, a sportswear brand that started in 2022, just weeks before her Olympic performance in Tokyo. This was considered her resurrection and reclamation after her fallout with Nike. 

In an interview with Forbes, Felix discussed the struggles of climbing up the ladder as a woman of colour. According to a study by Crunchbase, black women entrepreneurs received just 0.34% of the total venture capital spent in the U.S. in 2022.

She told Forbes about her 'never give up' spirit that keeps her going as an entrepreneur. "For so much of my life, I was told there can be only one. One chance, one winner, it is you versus them, and that simply is not true."

Felix's mantra for growth as a POC entrepreneur is collectiveness and exchanging support. She told Forbes, "We have to be on the same team, together we can all succeed, there is enough for everyone.”