Allyson Felix: The Most Decorated “Mom” & Female Track Athlete in Olympic History

When you think of the greats in track & field, you can’t help but to put Allyson Felix in the conversation. At the tender age of 14, Allyson became the national girls “High School Athlete of the Year” and by her senior year she would forego her college eligibility to compete professionally. Felix became only the second female athlete after Marita Koch in 1983 to win three gold medals at a single IAFF World Championships in Athletics. Throughout 2008-2018, Felix won medal after medal and broke multiple records with style and grace. She was easily becoming one of the greatest female athletes in U.S. history: a 6-time Olympic gold medal winner and 11-time world champion on her resume to be exact.

For most of her life, Allyson’s focus was solely on her love and craft for track and field. However In November 2018, Allyson and her husband, Kenneth Ferguson, welcomed a baby girl into the world. During pregnancy, Felix developed preeclampsia, a condition marked by high blood pressure and adverse childbirth more prevalent in African-American women, which resulted in an emergency C-section. Despite the unwarranted opinions by people in the industry, Allyson knew that it was the right time for her to be a professional athlete and a mother. During this time, she felt unsupported by Nike and decided to end her contract due to the industry’s maternity policies. This simply motivated her to return to the track and add to her record-setting medal haul. She then signed with Athleta which has become a huge advocate of supporting women and women athletes.

The ups and downs of making a comeback while in a pandemic were both daunting and uncertain. However, at 35 years old, Allyson marked her spot for the Tokyo Olympics which would become her fifth and final summer games appearance. Balancing unconventional training and raising a daughter was proven to be difficult but Allyson continued to keep her focus as well as make her voice stronger than ever on issues outside of the sport.

With great news, it’s been announced this morning that Allyson won the Bronze medal for the 400-meter finals which makes her the most decorated female athlete of our time with her 10th career Olympic medal! She is now tied with the legend Carl Lewis for the most medals by an American track & field athlete. Allyson’s story and empowering comeback is an inspiration to all of us. It’s even more inspiring how she proved that motherhood and being a professional athlete is indeed possible.

She is a woman not only known for her medals but an inspiration to so many women to Bet On Themselves!

Congrats Allyson Felix!