For runner Allyson Felix, the Olympic games are a way of life. She’s literally competed in the Olympics for the majority of her life. Now 38, the track and field champion has racked up 11 Olympic medals over the course of her career since her first Games in 2004 in Athens, Greece, at the age of 18.
For the first time in 20 years, she won’t be competing in the Olympics. Felix officially announced her retirement from her signature races (the 100, 200, and 400 meters) in 2022. It’s a huge shift for the Olympian, but Felix is far from distancing herself from the sport.
Here’s how she’s staying purposeful post-retirement, and the one thing she regrets from her long Olympic run.
A purposeful pivot
Felix may not be competing in this year’s Games, but she’s still doing her part to help highlight and fund high-achieving female athletes. In addition to her Voice in Sport mentorship and her recent $20 million grant from Melinda Gates to address maternal health, she also partnered with Cracker Jack to lead the Cracker Jill Spotlight Squad—an initiative to support the next generation of game-changing female athletes.
“There’s so many more stories, so many more women in sport who need the visibility,” Felix says. “When you see someone who looks like you who’s doing something incredible, it shows that you could do that as well.”
Felix’s own inspiration came from several fellow athletes, like Jackie Joyner Kersee, Serena Williams, and Lisa Leslie, to name a few.
“When you see someone who looks like you who’s doing something incredible, it shows that you could do that as well.”
“Jackie always told me to focus on myself, and that it takes a really long time to be great at something. I think that really made me slow down the process,” Felix says. “As athletes, you want to have success right away, but she made me understand that it was really about the long game.”
Since hanging up her track spikes, Felix also started her own running brand, Saysh, in 2021. Saysh designs running shoes for women, by women, and even has a unique maternity return policy. Customers can trade in their Saysh sneakers for a new pair as their feet change with pregnancy—an important element for Felix as a maternal health advocate and mother of two.
“I started Saysh out of necessity. I had been with Nike for almost a decade, and after I wasn’t fully supported through my pregnancy I left,” she says.
Felix reflects on how difficult competition became when she started to think about expanding her family, choosing to wait to have kids because of what she saw her teammates go through.
“They were not supported through their pregnancies. It was really hard to see that—to see women hide pregnancies. I did the same thing myself and trained at 4 a.m. so no one would know that I was pregnant. We did all of this because we were trying to secure new contracts,” she says. “It was a really difficult time, so that’s a huge motivation for me in all my advocacy work. I don’t want any other woman to feel like she has to choose between her profession and motherhood, and definitely not have to hide bringing new life into this world.”
Felix may have moved away from competition, but she’s redirected her energy toward other things she’s passionate about that can make meaningful change for other women.
“[Since retiring], I’ve been able to do things I’ve wanted to do for a long time in the running space, but also continuing to advocate for female athletes and spending a lot of time on the Black maternal health crisis,” she says.
What the Olympic track champion would’ve done differently
As an 11-time Olympic medalist and 21-time world champion, it’s hard to believe Felix would have any regrets. But with conversations around mental health coming to the forefront during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games, it allowed Felix to reflect on her own mental health during her career.
“At the height of my career, I probably wasn’t the most healthy. I feel like [I] had this mentality of at any cost, [I] just kept pushing forward,” she says.
The shift that’s happening on a global stage to de-stigmatize mental health is something Felix wishes could have happened sooner.
“I was so proud of Simone [Biles] and Naomi [Osaka] and what they’ve done over the years. I think it really has such an impact to be able to say that it’s okay to not be okay. And it’s okay to prioritize taking care of yourself. That can exist in the same space as being an elite athlete,” she says.
“I don’t want any other woman to feel like she has to choose between her profession and motherhood, and definitely not have to hide bringing new life into this world.”
Felix reflects on difficult moments during her career that she pushed through, like personal issues and a death in the family. No matter the circumstance, she sprinted through them instead of stopping to take care of her mental health.
“I pushed through everything, and I don’t think that was the best thing. I think what I would have done differently is take a moment for myself,” she says. “Self care was something that was kind of non existent [back then]. If I would have known some of these things, I probably would have done things a little bit differently myself.”
Now on the other side of her Olympic career, Felix has more time to practice self care in between her new endeavors as a businesswoman, mom, advocate, and sports commentator—but the shift from competitive running is one she’s still adjusting to.
“The Olympics have been my life for so long and preparing for them. I’ve had moments where I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I feel like I should be getting ready,’” she says. “So I’m excited to take them in as a spectator and just experience it from a different perspective.”
