Historical Spotlight: Allyson Felix
Black Americans have historically dominated in track and field. From legends like Jesse Owens to modern day marvels like Sha’Carri Richardson, Black athletes have graced podiums and won gold medals by being the best of the best. Join me as we shine a Historical Spotlight on one of the most decorated track stars, Allyson Felix.
Allyson was born on November 18, 1985 in Los Angeles, California to her parents Paul and Marlean Felix. She has one older brother named Wes who was also a successful sprinter. She’s always attributed her running ability as a gift from God and was determined to use it to the best of her ability.
She attended Los Angeles Baptist High School and excelled in track. Despite only being five-foot-six and 125 pounds, she was able to deadlift at least 270 pounds while still in high school. She credits much of her early success to her high school sprint coach, Jonathan Patton.
She tried out for track in the ninth grade and in her very first meet ever, finished seventh in the 200 meters at the CIF California State Meet. By the end of her high school track career, she had won the meet five times. In 2001, she won her first international title in the 100 meters after competing in the Debrecan World Youth Championships. Just two years later, she was named the national girls’ “High School Athlete of the Year” by Track and Field News.
As a senior, she finished second in the 200 meters at the US Indoor Track & Field Championships. During a meet in Mexico City, she broke the record for fastest high school girl when she ran 22.11 seconds. Unfortunately, her time couldn’t be counted as a world junior record since there was no drug testing done at the meet.
Allyson graduated from high school in 2003 and decided to sign a professional contract with Adidas instead of using her college eligibility. She was paid an undisclosed sum and Adidas even paid for her college tuition at the University of Southern California, where she graduated in May 2008 with a degree in elementary education. She is a USC legend and even has a field named after her.
After signing with Adidas, it didn’t take her long to start winning. At the 2003 US national championships, she finished second in the 200 meters with a time of 22.59 seconds, which qualified her for the 2003 Paris World Championships at only 17 years old. Just one year later, she earned her first Olympic medal when she took home silver in the 200 meters at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. She set a world junior record with her speedy time of 22.18 seconds.
After switching coaches from Pat Connolly to Bob Kersee, Allyson became the youngest world champion ever in the 200 meters at the 2005 Helsinki World Championships. Two years later, she finished under 22 seconds for the first time in her career at the 2007 Osaka World Championships with an official time of 21.81 seconds. She made history by being only the second female athlete to win three gold medals at a single IAAF World Championships in Athletics after running the second leg in the winning 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 meter relays.
Allyson qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics at the trials by winning the 200 meters sprint in 21.82 seconds, but unfortunately came in second in the final. She persevered in the rest of her events by helping the 4 x 400 meters relay team secure the victory and won her very first Olympic gold medal in the process. In preparation for the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, she made history again as part of the 4 x 100 meters relay team that ran the fastest women’s sprint relay in 12 years. Lauryn Williams, Allyson, Muna Lee, and Carmelita Jeter finished with a time of 41.58 seconds, making them eighth on the all-time list.
At only 23 years old, Allyson claimed her third 200 meter world championship gold medal with a time of only 22.02 seconds in the final. Despite claiming another gold medal by running on the 4 x 400 meters relay team, she was hungry to win her first Olympic gold in the 200 meter.
In 2010, Allyson focused on adding 400-meter races to her list of events which allowed her to become the first person to ever win two IAAF Diamond League trophies in the same year. She absolutely dominated by winning 21 out of 22 races. She also became the US 100 meters champion by winning the sprint in only 11.27 seconds against a strong headwind. At the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, Allyson won four medals, two of which were gold in the 4 x 100 meters and 4 x 400 meters relays, silver in the 400-meter final, and bronze in the 200-meter final.
During the 2012 Olympic trials, she added the 100 meters sprint to her repertoire and finished at 11.07 seconds, earning her third place. In the 200 meter final, she ran a personal best and a meet record of 21.69 seconds. During the 2012 Summer Olympics, she won gold in the 200 meters, 4 x 100 meters relay, and 4 x 400 meters relay. While she only placed fifth in the 100 meters sprint, she made history by becoming the first American woman to win three gold medals at an Olympics since the 1988 Summer Olympics. After almost a decade, she finally got to celebrate her very first individual Olympic gold medal victory in the 200 meter sprint.
Allyson suffered a hamstring injury during the 200 meters final at the 2013 World Championships that forced her off the track for nine months. She was back competing by May 2014, and later that year, won the 2014 IAAF Diamond League 200-meter title and received a bye into the 2015 World Championships in Athletics. She won her ninth US championship title by winning gold in the 400 meters sprint.
During the 2015 Beijing World Championships, she was forced to choose between competing in the 400-meter final and the 200-meter semi-finals because of a scheduling conflict. She ultimately chose to run the 400 meters race and completely dominated it to win gold. Her victory made her the first woman to win world titles in both the 200 and 400 meters events and gave her the American record for the most world championship gold medals and most overall world championship medals.
In 2016, she suffered a right ankle injury that slowed her progress in qualifying for the 2016 Olympics. Despite not being fully healed, she competed in the Olympic trials to successfully qualify for the 400 meters event, but ultimately got edged out in the 200 meters final by 0.01 seconds. She took off the rest of July and early part of August to give her ankle more time to heal before the Olympics.
The extra rest proved beneficial, as Allyson won six gold and three silver medals at the 2016 Olympics, tying the record for the most Olympic medals won by a female track and field athlete. In the 2017 World Championships, she added three more medals, solidifying herself as the most decorated athlete in IAAF World Championships history.
In 2018, she decided to reduce her racing schedule in hopes of making it to the 2020 Olympics. Later that year, she experienced a very difficult pregnancy when she developed pre-eclampsia and had to deliver her premature daughter early by emergency C-section. After this life-threatening experience, she decided to testify in 2019 to the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means about the black maternal mortality crisis.
She advocated that the medical industry is riddled with racial bias that is evident from providers spending less time with Black mothers, underestimating the pain of Black patients, and ignoring symptoms and complaints. She further ridiculed her longtime sponsor Nike and accused them of refusing to guarantee salary protections for female athletes following pregnancy.
When her contract ended in December 2017, she knew she wanted to start a family in 2018 and asked Nike for written financial security in case her performance dropped after recovering from childbirth. Nike representatives declined and offered her a 70% pay cut, forcing Allyson to leave and sign a clothing sponsorship deal with Athleta in July 2019. After the public controversy, Nike updated their maternal policy, promising that female athletes were safe from performance-related salary reductions for 18 consecutive months and removed the possibility of termination if an athlete decided not to race while pregnant.
Allyson returned to competition in July 2019 and finished sixth in the 400 meters sprint at the US national championships. Despite failing to qualify into the individual 400-meters event, she did qualify for the 4 x 400 meters relay pool. She, along with Michael Cherry, Wil London III, and Courtney Okolo set a world record time of 3:09.34 in the first-ever mixed-gender 4 x 400 meters relay at the world championships. She officially passed Usain Bolt for the most golds by any athlete in World Athletics Championships history upon securing her 12th and 13th medals.
In June 2021, she launched her very own footwear company called Saysh, and started wearing them into competitions to help increase exposure. Within the same month, she qualified for the 400 meters by finishing second at the US Olympic trials with a speedy time of 50.02 seconds, setting a new masters athletics record. People doubted her performance leading up to the 2020 Olympics because of her age, Olympic trials performance, and semi-final time, but she proved the naysayers wrong by taking home her 10th overall Olympic medal after running 49.46 seconds in the final.
Allyson finished her Olympic career after winning gold alongside Sydney McLaughlin, Dalilah Muhammad, and Athing Mu in the women’s 4 x 400 meters final. This 11th victory officially established her as the most decorated American track and field athlete in Olympic history. She announced her impending retirement in April 2022. Her last competition was the World Athletics Championships in July 2022, where she won gold in the 4 x 400 meters relay and bronze in the mixed 4 x 400 meters relay.
She’s not only decorated with medals, but has received numerous awards over the years to commemorate her success on the track. She’s received the Jesse Owens/Jackie Joyner Kersee Award five times for being the chosen athlete of the year by USA Track & Field. She also received the 2012 IAAF Female World Athlete of the Year award after her success at the 2012 London Olympics, and more recently, in 2022, Allyson received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.
She also served on the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition under the Obama administration to create affordable and sustainable programs to encourage healthy lifestyles across the country. She often promoted healthy school breakfasts, mediated youth panels, and participated in a “Let’s Move! Active Schools” event hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama.
While her professional racing career is over, Allyson still holds the record as only the second American woman to ever qualify for the Olympics in the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 400 meters during her career. She’s truly an inspiration to all those who love the sport of running.
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Signed,
Jessica Marie
