Allison Felix, winner of the Inspire Greatness Award at this month’s KPMG Women’s Leadership Summit, is the most decorated American track and field athlete in Olympic history. After retiring last summer, the 11-time Olympic medalist and three-time world champion in the 200-meter sprint is building a new legacy with her advocacy work on Black maternal health care and equal pay. She’s spoken before Congress about racial disparities in maternal health, and her shoe company, Sayech, is offering a first-of-its-kind maternity return policy for women who experience a change in shoe size during pregnancy. Felix spoke to ESPN about adjusting to life after her illustrious track and field career and empowering the next generation of female athletes.
(Felix declined to speak about her former USA Track and Field teammate, Tori Boy, who died last month of complications during childbirth, but wrote an article in time Last week about Bowie and Maternal Mortality.)
in life after retirement
It was a transitional year. I’ve been working hard on growing Syesh – my company and doing a lot of talking. I am a member of the IOC Athletes Committee. I do things I couldn’t say yes to before. But there is also the challenge of being away from a sport that you have loved for so long and not competing. For most of my life, everything has revolved around one competition, whether it’s the Olympics or the World Championships. Not having that was a bit liberating but also unfamiliar. I work through it and it shows up in different areas of my life.
I still do a lot of workouts because that’s what I know. Sometimes I find myself going through hard workouts and saying, “Oh wait, I actually don’t have to do this myself.” It’s a constant reminder that I can get back to challenging my body in different ways. I take tennis lessons, which were very humbling. I do pilates. Skiing was huge because I was always the one in my family who had to wait at the bottom of the mountain. I enjoyed taking lessons and going out there. I have golf on my list of things I want to get to. It’s hard to learn things as an adult.
New stuff – that’s the season I’m in right now.
About the mother and conflicts in maternal health
With my real-life experience, I came to grips with things and understood that I had a platform. Motherhood is the thing that affected me the most, it normalizes mothers in sports and women don’t have to choose between that part of life and staying in their profession. Being a mother and looking at my daughter and the world she will grow up in has helped me find my voice and talk about some of the things I would have walked away from before. After her stay in the NICU (Newborn Intensive Care Unit), she spent a lot of time in the hospital. (Felix delivered Camryn in November 2018 during an emergency C-section at 32 weeks post-eclampsia.) I was going through it all. Nike plight Then try to secure the protection of the mother. Those were the moments when I watched my daughter fight her battles. I knew I needed to be strong. There was no way for me to remain silent about what I was going through. My experience getting her pushed me to talk about maternal health and the crisis black women face.
to find her voice
And for a long time, I tried to fit into that mold of the perfect athlete. [Speaking out] It was very scary and terrifying. Still feel uncomfortable. But you can’t let that hold you back. You can use your voice even if it vibrates. This is something I stick to. On the flip side of that, fear is a great deal of freedom. Much change can come. This has worked for me, and it’s just the understanding that something positive can come from being vulnerable and transparent. Hopefully someone else can be helped and have an easier path forward when opening up and sharing.
On starting her own shoe company, he says
Being in a different space, there is sometimes imposter syndrome that I have to deal with. Anytime you’re going through a transition, I think it can be tough. A lot of the skills I learned from being an athlete still apply now, and I’m bound to get a lot of use out of them. When I was running, I would run in great competition, and if I had nerves or doubts, I would look back on my training. I carried a log of every exercise I did with me. It will give me the confidence to know I’m ready. The same thing happens in the business world. I have to remind myself that I am capable and that I belong. I have amazing mentors and expert people that I can now work with on a daily basis. Reminding myself of everything that gives me confidence.
When I hear stories about how women wear shoes, it feels like they are standing with the women and implying that they are change makers. This is the deeper meaning behind it and at the core of what we are trying to do.
About empowering the next generation of athletes
I think the momentum in women’s sports right now is really strong. More than ever, we see athletes talking about other things outside of their sport. If we continue to empower the younger generation, we will see things change. When I spoke, I was encouraged by fellow athletes in other areas who did the same. It is the strength of the group. When one person does it, you don’t feel alone, and you feel like you can do that too. We see athletes being more transparent about what they’re going through and opening that door. Would love to see it mainstream. I think the mental health conversations we’re having are very important. We often look at athletes and see them as invincible, but they have the same problems as everyone else.