August 06, 2021 at 06:19PMSean Gregory/Tokyo
In her final individual race in her final Olympics Games, American track star Allyson Felix won her 10th Olympic medal—a bronze in the 400-m—on Friday night in Tokyo to pass Merlene Ottey of Jamaica as the most decorated female track and field athlete of all-time. Felix is also now tied with Carl Lewis for the most medals ever won by an American track and field athlete. (Felix now has six golds, three silver, one bronze medals; Lewis won nine golds and a silver).
Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas took gold with a time of 48.36 seconds, Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic took silver with a time of 49.20 seconds and Felix finished with a time of 49.46 seconds.
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Felix should have another opportunity to medal here at the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games and break Lewis’ American record; she’s set to participate in the 4 X 400-m relay final on Saturday, a race the U.S. has won at every Olympics since the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Felix’s record is even more remarkable given all the unexpected adversity she’s faced since the 2016 Rio Games, when she finished second to Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas, who dove across the finish line to eke out the victory. (“I wouldn’t want to win that way,” Felix told TIME in a May interview. “In my opinion, it’s not respectable.”) In late November 2018, Felix gave birth to her daughter, Camryn, seven weeks premature: she was diagnosed with severe preeclampsia—a potentially life-threatening, pregnancy-related condition more prevalent in African-American women, and required emergency C-section surgery.
Both mother and daughter, however, recovered, and Felix has turned her attention towards raising awareness for African-American maternal care. “We need to provide women of color with more support during their pregnancies,” Felix told the House Ways and Means Com in 2019. “Research shows that racial bias in our maternal health care system includes things like providers spending less time with Black mothers, underestimating the pain of their Black patients, ignoring symptoms and dismissing complaints.”
Read more: Motherhood Could Have Cost Olympian Allyson Felix. She Wouldn’t Let It
When she returned to the track for training, some ten weeks after giving birth, simple exercises caused her pain, due to the surgery. At the same time, Felix was embroiled in a contract dispute with Nike, her primary sponsor for over a decade, over a clause that would tie performance-protections for athletes to pregnancy. In May of 2019, she went public with her story. Felix left Nike and signed with Athleta in July of 2019, becoming the female-focused brand’s first sponsored athlete. That August, Nike announced that the company would guarantee athlete pay and bonuses for 18 months around pregnancy.
In June, Felix launched her own footwear and apparel company, called Saysh. She won her 400-m bronze while wearing a Saysh spike.
Families were not permitted to travel with athletes to Tokyo; these restrictions were particularly difficult for mothers of young children. “Already getting my mind right for being away from Cammy for 16 days,” Felix wrote in a July 9 text message, two weeks before the Tokyo Opening Ceremonies. “But I’ll make it through.” Once she arrived in Tokyo, Felix found the separation difficult. “It’s been a lonely Olympics,” Felix told TIME earlier this week. “The biggest down for me, and it’s probably the most expected one, is being apart from Cammy. I’ve had a few moments just talking about that with other moms. There are just moments of sadness.”
Here in Tokyo, she’s FaceTiming often with her daughter back in Los Angeles. “That’s been the high point of my day, catching up with Cammy,” Felix tells TIME. “She’s having a great time. But also, I think this is the first time that she does understand that I’m gone. She sometimes becomes frustrated in the FaceTime that she can’t get to me.”
Felix fought through isolation and homesickness, at 35 in her final Games, to add to her historic haul. It would be hard to find a Tokyo Olympian more influential than Allyson Felix. Now, with more track and field medals than any woman in history, Felix stands alone.
Read more about the Tokyo Olympics:
- Naomi Osaka: ‘It’s O.K. to Not Be O.K.’
- Motherhood Could Have Cost Olympian Allyson Felix. She Wouldn’t Let It
- Simone Biles’ Olympic Team Final Withdrawal Could Help Athletes Put Their Mental Health First
- ‘Unapologetic and Unafraid.’ Sue Bird Stares Down Olympic Glory in Tokyo and Equity Off the Court
- Meet 6 Heroes Who Helped Battle COVID-19 Before Competing in the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics
- Here’s How Many Medals Every Country Has Won at the Tokyo Summer Olympics So Far
- 48 Athletes to Watch at the Tokyo Olympics
- The Olympic Refugee Team Was Created to Offer Hope. Some Athletes Are Running Away From It
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