by Deji Ogeyingbo
Allyson Felix, photo by Kevin Morris / @kevmofoto
When Deji Ogeyingbo sent this article to me, he noted that Allyson Felix is his favorite athlete. I have heard that alot. Allyson has been on covers of my magazines since she was sixteen. Her move to the professional ranks when she was 18 was trail blazing.
I recall a few years ago, sharing a bus ride with Allyson Felix, her brother and manager, Wes Felix as we headed from the Doha International airport. They were quite nice, but also reserved.
Allyson Felix is a trailblazer, and it only the beginning.
The Legacy of Allyson Felix: Motherhood, Olympic Champion and Legend
For someone that was nicknamed “Chicken Legs” as a 15-year-old because of her tiny frame, Allyson Felix has gone on to become one of the greatest female athletes in Track and Field as she is the most decorated Olympic medals in athletics history with eleven, while also being the most decorated competitor at the World Athletics Championships with 19 medals, 14 of them Gold.
Heck, we’ve heard this sort of recital before. An athlete at a young age, precocious and dazzling, dominates his/her chosen field for a long period of time. It comes and goes. What, however, doesn’t, is how athletes build a good reputation on and off the sport. And it’s because in this day and age, it’s difficult to do that for some obvious reasons.
Allyson Felix, photo by Kevin Morris / @kevmofoto
The fact that modern professional sport is tied to sponsors sinking millions of dollars on top athletes and professional teams have made morality and justice for major social courses go down the drain. Athletes are bullied to the point they can’t take a stand to fight for a just course because of how it will affect their sponsorships, and potentially their careers.
Also, as humans, religion forms a major part of our fabric, and its grueling to sieve that aspect of oneself because of engagement in sports. Bottom line is, athletes, find themselves in a win/lose situation. Something has to give. Most of the time, they tilt towards the money and sponsorships. Some, nevertheless have found a way to make it a win/win situation for themselves.
Colin Kaepernick, Manny Pacquiao, Serena Williams, Demba Ba, Felix.
These names have all got one thing in common. They stood their ground for a course that many other athletes in their discipline were scared to do. They risked their careers, huge financial deals, sponsorships, and even a portion of their fan base to fight a course.
Felix’s track story is one that is littered with a lot of medals than records. Her track career is glittering. Even the great Usain Bolt doesn’t match her for the number of laurels won at the World Championships and the Olympics.
“For most of my life, I was focused on one thing: winning medals. And I was good at it. At 32, I was one of the most decorated athletes in history: a six-time Olympic gold medal winner and an 11-time world champion. But in 2019, my focus expanded: I wanted to be a professional athlete and a mother. In some ways, that dream was crazy”.
“Athletes are told to shut up and compete. We are told that no one cares about our politics. We are told that we’re just entertainers, so run fast, jump high, and throw far. And don’t mess up”.
When Felix had her first child, Camryn in 2018, the delivery was traumatic. Prior to the delivery, she was diagnosed with severe pre-eclampsia at her routine 32-week check-up. The doctors told her that if they didn’t act now, it could kill her, and her child. That prompted her to have an emergency C-section.
Allyson Felix and daughter, Camryn, photo by Kevin Morris / @kevmofoto
So traumatic was the birth, the doctors had to cut open her skin, abdomen, and uterus, separate her stomach muscles and pull out her baby. Felix struggled to walk normally for five weeks, but she was back training in three months. That in itself showed the sort of resilience she had as a human, one that has propelled her to greatness on the track until that point.
After scaling through the ordeal unscathed, Felix took on another battle, one that would prove to be a watershed moment for women in track and field. Felix took on her own sponsor, Nike, who had been her sponsor since 2010, in the pages of the New York Times, where she called them out the way they treat their female athletes.
The fight that went to court forced Nike to bring in a new maternity policy for all its athletes. Ultimately, it cost Felix her sponsorship. Regardless, she found herself a new sponsor.
In 2021, Felix told the New York Times in a recent Q&A: “It’s not just about me running fast. It is about doing very specific things — advocating for women — or seeing how this career makes sense beyond ‘I need more medals.’ Because I don’t.”
The ever-smiling Felix picked up the pieces and returned to the track. Just 10 months after giving birth to her daughter, Felix broke the record for the most medals in the World Athletics Championships, male or female, breaking the world record of 11 held by Usain Bolt.
Still, that wasn’t enough for Felix. With the pandemic hitting full force in 2020, Felix continued to grind as she worked her socks off to seek Olympic qualification. That she achieved in June 2021, as she showed resilience to place 2nd. It was another victory for mothers in the sport.
At the Tokyo Games, Felix showed the world what she had done repeatedly. Under the bright lights inside the Olympic stadium that was steaming, the sprinter summoned a performance that turned back the clock.
Pitted in the much-dreaded lane 9, Felix has since written about the nerves she felt on her social media pages on race day. With the odds stacked against her, she ran a blistering race to claw her way to win Bronze in the women’s 400m. Surely, it was a Bronze that held more meaning considering the circumstances.
Allyson Felix, photo by Kevin Morris / @kevmofoto
The medal also matched Carl Lewis for the most in U.S. track history and become the most decorated female athlete in the history of Olympic track and field.
After the race, Felix revealed that not one person in track and field expected her to make the 400-meter final, other than her family and Bob Kersee, her coach who’s basically family, too.
Well, it wasn’t long before she zoomed past Lewis, winning her 11th career Olympic medal on a few days later, combining with her American teammates to finish the 4x400m relay in 3 minutes, 16.85 seconds for a runaway victory.
“When I line up for a race, I’m normally afraid,” she said in an essay on social media, posted only hours before Friday’s race. “I’m not afraid of losing. I lose much more than I win. That’s life and I think that’s how it’s supposed to be.”
Despite her monumental legacy in the sport, Felix’s activism off the track may prove to be even more impactful. She has taken it upon herself to use her platform for social good. Last year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that Felix had joined the Hear Her campaign to share her story and raise awareness about urgent warning signs that could indicate life-threatening complications during and in the year after pregnancy.
Quanara Hayes, Allyson Felix, London 2017 photo by Mike Deering / The Shoe Addicts, for RunBlogRun
What followed for Felix were awards that accompanied her cementing her legacy on the track. She received the 2021 National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) National Leadership Award for excellence and innovative leadership in Black America.
To add to her accolades, Felix was this year’s recipient of The Armory Presidents’ Award during the 114th Millrose Games on Saturday, January 29th. The honor recognizes those who have made extraordinary contributions to both The Armory and to the sport of track and field as a whole.
Felix’s legacy is one that continues to evolve as she has etched her name in the sands of times having found a way to merge sporting glory and activism.
