Record athlete, Obama advisor and women's activist: the thousand lives of the greatest US Olympic medallist

Allyson Felix is the woman of all records. No other athlete in his country, male or female, has won more medals on the athletics track at the Olympic Games, reaching, between gold, silver and bronze, a total of 11.

No woman in the entire history of world athletics matched that number. He also holds the record for the most gold medals ever won at the world championships in athletics with a total of 13 medals. He participated in five Olympic Games: Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2020, which was finally held in 2021.

Allyson Michelle Felix was born in Los Angeles in 1985. From a young age he stood out as a sprinter and his entire career has been dedicated to racing on the track. He was 19 years old when he won his first silver medal in the 200 meters, at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Immediately all the eyes of the world of athletics fell on her. It was the beginning of a legend. In the United States, they already knew about her talent and she arrived at the Olympic Games with her first sports sponsor.

When Allyson reached the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, she did so having won four gold medals in world championships in athletics. To his specialty of 200 meters would be added the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. Then I would add the 400-meter races.

In his second Olympics he would win a gold medal in the 4x100 relay and a silver medal in the 200 meters. The best thing would be London 2012. In all of them it would shine, reaching its sporting splendor in London 2012. In those games I would have three gold medals: 200 meters, 4x100 and 4x400. Individually or as a team, Felix was still making history, but unusually he still had a long way to go.

Rio 2016 was his fourth games and there he got two gold, 4x100 and 4x400 and a silver one in the 400 meters. While he continued to score podiums in the athletics world championships and in the Diamond League.

In the world championships he broke all the records for the number of medals, but he did not settle, although he had previously had an injury to Rio, he was never discouraged. Her fifth Olympic game would be Tokyo 2020, which took place in 2021, when she was 34, meaning that she was almost twice the age of some of the competitors. There he won the gold medal in 4x400 and the bronze medal in the 400 meters. In this way she achieved eleven medals in Games, a record for the United States, both in men and women and at the world level record among women.

In the world championships in athletics he holds the record of being the athlete with the most gold medals, 13, to which three silver medals and one bronze medals must be added. Four more medals in the Diamond League and another in the indoor World Cup.

Despite all this, Felix has had less impact than other athletes in the world, particularly men. Felix is part of the small group of elite athletes who have become an international star and have taken advantage of his image beyond athletics.

In 2018, at age 34, she had a daughter, Camryn, along with her husband, also an athlete, Kenneth Ferguson. Allyson had problems with her pregnancy, but the girl got ahead. The only thing that affected Felix was that he kept his pregnancy hidden at the beginning so that he could continue to compete.

Sponsored by Nike at the time, she had a fight with the company over the radical drop in her contract. 70% was taken away by her pregnancy. The birth of her daughter was not easy, since she was born premature, but without subsequent consequences except the anguish of those first weeks for Allyson.

In that anguish Felix did not shut up and told what was happening. They ended the bond but the company announced that this measure would no longer be taken with any other athlete. Allyson Felix discovered that he could make a difference and decided to use his fame for it. She returned to the track as soon as she was retrained and before Tokyo she declared: “I enter the Olympic Stadium to compete in my 5th Olympic Games. It may sound like a cliché, but getting to that starting line is an incredible win for me. I have experienced the most difficult years of my life on this journey and by the grace of God I am here.”

A brand would make her its first sponsored athlete. This is Athleta, who belongs to Gap and who makes clothes for women athletes. Allyson also created her own athletic shoes, Saysh, which she would wear to compete from then on and with which she would win Olympic medals again.

Her name then became a reference point and her actions made her a very popular person. He participated in many charitable works and put his name on social causes. He served on President Obama's advisory committee on the Sports, Fitness and Nutrition commission.

She was recently chosen by Time magazine as one of the twelve women of the year, those who work to build a more equal world. These are some of the recognitions he has received.

Meanwhile, her record is undisputed and whoever saw her race on the slopes knows that she is a superlative athlete. What she could have returned after a complicated pregnancy and achieved it with shoes created by her is something out of the ordinary. Allyson Felix is an off-the-charts runner and she still has a lot to give, to athletics in particular and to society in general.

*Santiago García is a marathoner, author of the book “Running to live, live to run” and “Back to run”. He completed the Six World Marathon Majors twice. On Instagram: @sangarciacorre.

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