After 20 years of high level, Allyson Felix bowed out on Friday July 15 with a 19th world medal in Eugene (Oregon). The American won bronze with the mixed 4x400m. At 36, the athletics legend bows out through the front door. Icon of the fight for the rights of sportswomen, she leaves an immense imprint in the history of her sport and beyond.
When she took to the track at Hayward Field in Eugene, second in the US Mixed 4x400m relay, the crowd screamed loudly. Everyone knew this was Allyson Felix’s final lap. Qualified with her teammates for the final, the Californian therefore deployed her perfect stride for the last time.
It wasn’t enough to get the gold medal. The American relay, world champion in 2019 on the occasion of the first mixed 4x400m relay at the Doha Worlds, had to settle for the third step on the podium this time. The Dominican Republic grabbed the gold, followed by the Netherlands and thus the United States.
Allyson Felix remains at 13 career world gold medals. A huge total to which we must add 3 silver medals and now 3 bronze medals. The American is, more than ever, the most successful athlete in history at the Worlds with 19 medals, ahead of the 14 of Jamaicans Usain Bolt and Merlene Ottey.
” It is time »
Also female athlete the most medalist in the history of the Olympic Games with 11 medals (the Finn Paavo Nurmi dominates, all genders combined, with 12 medals), Allyson Felix puts an end to an exceptional career in the best of settings. Having become the mother of a little girl in 2018, the sprinter savored this last race at home:
” It was very special to be able to race in front of the American public for my last race. It was so cool. My daughter was in the stands. This is an evening that I will hold in my heart. These are such good memories. (…) It was cool to finish at home, to hear this roar from the public. »
A phenomenon of athletics during her teenage years, Allyson Felix was only 18 years old when she won silver in the 200m at the Athens Games in 2004. The one who was nicknamed “Chicken Legs” seized the or a year later, at the Worlds in Helsinki. Successful in the 100m, 200m, 400m and the 4x100m and 4x400m relays, the American wrote the history of athletics. Now it’s time to hang up the tips.
” I know now is the time. I am at peace with opening a new chapter and have immense gratitude for this sport “, she confided.
A major figure in the defense of sports and equality
A true icon in the world of sport, Allyson Felix exceeded this framework in 2018, when she gave birth to her daughter Camryn. She then revealed that she was in conflict with Nike, her historic equipment supplier, who wanted to reduce her fees by 70%. It was an opportunity to highlight the treatment given by the giants of the sports industry to sportswomen who become mothers during their career.
” We risk reductions in remuneration from our sponsors during and after the pregnancy. This is one of the examples that proves that the sports industry is still run by and for men wrote Allyson Felix in the New York Times. Later, she told the washington post that this fight has it “ helped to understand what was important and to realize that (I) could no longer remain silent “. Nike, under the fire of critics, ends up folding.
The words and comments of praise are countless when it comes to talking about Allyson Felix, set up as a model in the United States and around the world. Thursday, on the eve of her last race, the American said she hoped that we would remember her ” as a fierce competitor, but above all as someone who tried to leave the sport in a better state (…), to support women athletes and women in general, and to fight for more equality “. A very fair summary of the 20-year career of Allyson Félix, sprinter and exceptional woman.