49 Facts About Allyson Felix

Allyson Michelle Felix was born on November 18,1985 and is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters.

Allyson Felix specialized in the 200 meters from 2003 to 2013, then gradually shifted to the 400 meters later in her career.

At 200 meters, Felix is the 2012 Olympic champion, a three-time world champion, a two-time Olympic silver medalist, and the 2011 world bronze medalist.

Across the short distances, Allyson Felix is a ten-time US national champion.

Allyson Felix is the most decorated woman in Olympic track and field history and the most decorated American track and field athlete in Olympic history, having earned 11 total medals from five consecutive Olympic Games.

Allyson Felix is the most decorated athlete, male or female, in World Athletics Championships history with 20 career medals, 7 from individual events and 13 from team relays.

Allyson Felix was included in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2020 and 2021.

In 2022, Allyson Felix received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from her alma mater USC and served as the commencement speaker for that year's graduation ceremony.

Allyson Felix was born on November 18,1985, in Los Angeles, California.

Allyson Felix is the daughter of Paul, an ordained minister and professor of New Testament at The Master's Seminary in Sun Valley, California, and Marlean, an elementary school teacher at Balboa Magnet Elementary.

Allyson Felix's elder brother Wes Felix was a sprinter, winning the 2002 USA Junior Championships in the 200 meters race and later, the Pac-10 championships in 2003 and 2004 as a collegiate athlete for USC.

Allyson Felix attended Los Angeles Baptist High School in North Hills, California, where she was nicknamed "Chicken Legs" by her teammates, because the five-foot-six, 125-pound sprinter's body had skinny legs despite her strength.

Allyson Felix's slightness belied her speed on the track and strength in the gym, as she could deadlift at least 270 pounds while still in high school.

Allyson Felix began to discover her athletic talents after she tried out for track in the ninth grade.

In 2001, at the Debrecan World Youth Championships, Allyson Felix achieved her first international title in the 100 meters.

Allyson Felix graduated high school in 2003, making headlines by forgoing college eligibility to sign a professional contract with Adidas via her agent Nik Visger.

At the age of 18, Allyson Felix earned an Olympic silver medal in the 200 meters at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, behind Veronica Campbell of Jamaica; in doing so, she set a world junior record over 200 meters with her time of 22.18 seconds.

Nineteen-year-old Allyson Felix became the youngest world champion ever in the 200 meters at the 2005 Helsinki World Championships and then successfully defended her world title in Osaka two years later.

At the 2007 Osaka World Championships, Allyson Felix caught Jamaican rival, Veronica Campbell, on the bend and surged down the straightaway to finish in 21.81 seconds, dipping under the 22-second barrier for the first time in her career.

In 2009, at merely 23 years old, Allyson Felix proceeded to claim her third 200-meter world championship gold medal, an unprecedented accomplishment in women's sprinting.

Allyson Felix clocked 22.02 sec to comfortably beat Jamaica's Olympic 200-meter champion Veronica Campbell-Brown.

Allyson Felix continued her dominance by winning 21 out of 22 races, only losing to Veronica Campbell-Brown in New York.

Team USA won both events, attaining world-leading times in both finals as Allyson Felix added two world championship gold medals to her collection.

In 2012, Allyson Felix returned to the Olympic trials, choosing to race the 100 meters in addition to her main event, the 200 meters.

Allyson Felix pushed out of the blocks with a strong start and was on par with the Jamaican athletes coming off of the curve before pulling away in the final 50 meters to clinch her long-awaited individual Olympic gold medal.

Allyson Felix later competed in the 200 meters at the Prefontaine Classic meet, finishing third with a season's best of 22.44 seconds.

Allyson Felix won the event in 50.19 seconds with a late surge from fourth place at the 300-meter mark, catching Natasha Hastings right before the finish line to earn her ninth US championship title.

Allyson Felix eventually chose the 400 meters and later triumphed in the event final with a personal best of 49.26 seconds.

Allyson Felix dominated the race from beginning to end, making up the stagger from the start of the gun and never relinquishing her lead to claim the 400 meters title.

In doing so, Allyson Felix became the first woman to win world titles in the 200 meters and the 400 meters.

Allyson Felix began her 2016 season with an uncharacteristically slow start after a gym accident in April, when she dropped from a pull-up bar and landed awkwardly, twisting her right ankle and tearing multiple ligaments.

Allyson Felix was slated to run in a Diamond League meet in Doha as well as the Prefontaine Classic, but pulled out of both meets.

At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Allyson Felix bumped her overall Olympic haul to nine overall medals: six golds and three silvers, tying Jamaican legend Merlene Ottey's record for the most Olympic medals won by a female track and field athlete, although most of Ottey's medal collection consists of individual medals.

Allyson Felix equaled Merlene Ottey's and Usain Bolt's 14 medal tally by winning a bronze medal in the 400-meter final with a time of 50.08 seconds.

Allyson Felix admitted that the result was disappointing, as she was hoping to defend her title in the discipline.

Just a month prior to the championships, Allyson Felix had won the London's Diamond League meet held at the same track with a world-leading time of 49.65 seconds.

Allyson Felix's story underscored the earlier allegations made by her former Nike teammates Alysia Montano and Kara Goucher regarding their pregnancy disputes with the sportswear company.

In July 2019, Allyson Felix competed in her first race since giving birth in November 2018, finishing sixth in the 400-meter sprint at the US national championships in Des Moines, Iowa.

Allyson Felix completed workouts on streets, empty soccer fields, and beaches when quarantine measures were first enacted in March 2020.

In June 2021, two years after she publicized her contract dispute with Nike, Allyson Felix launched her own footwear company, Saysh, and began wearing spikes created by the brand into competitions.

Every finalist in the 400 meters final ran sub-50 seconds in their semi-final, with Allyson Felix running the second-slowest qualifying time of 49.89 seconds.

Allyson Felix has announced that she intends to retire before the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Allyson Felix won the award for the first time in 2005, and then again in 2007,2010,2012 and 2015.

In 2022, Allyson Felix received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.

Allyson Felix is the first woman ever to win US national titles in the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 400 meters in her career.

Allyson Felix is the second American woman, after Chandra Cheeseborough, to ever qualify for the Olympics in the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 400 meters during her career.

Under the Obama administration, Allyson Felix served on the President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition, an advisory committee dedicated to creating affordable and sustainable physical activity and nutrition programs to encourage healthy lifestyles among Americans of all ages.

In November 2014, Allyson Felix traveled to Brazil as a Sports Diplomacy Sports Envoy for the US Department of State.

Allyson Felix is married to American sprinter and hurdler Kenneth Ferguson.