Over the weekend, Olympic sprinter Allyson Felix won her 12th gold medal at a track and field World Championships—breaking a record formerly held by Usain Bolt, the runner often referred to as the “world’s fastest man.”
Felix, 33, took the world record from Bolt in Doha after a 4 x 400 mixed-gender relay race victory. She’s competed in four Olympics and won nine medals, six of them gold, but what makes this victory even more important is that it’s Felix’s first since giving birth to her daughter, Camryn, ten months ago.
The birth wasn’t easy. People reports that the Olympian suffered from severe preeclampsia and gave birth via C-section. “It’s different, definitely challenging. I think for any new mom when she returned to work just, you’re exhausted and you’re balancing your family and what it all looks like,” she told the magazine in July about getting back into her training routine.
After her major accomplishment this weekend, Felix simply tweeted, “Humbled???.”
Since then, she’s spoken out about what this victory means as a mother. “Our journey to motherhood and back is bigger than us and bigger than sport. I believe it’s about overcoming and that is something we all have to do,” she wrote on Instagram yesterday. “I have seen the power of the collective. The need to speak your truth. It’s a pivotal time for women in sport. We can create change. Women, let’s support each other. Uplift and encourage. Open doors for one another. Celebrate and elevate each other. We can all win. This is sisterhood.”
It seems her daughter, and other mothers, are her biggest inspiration. “Life looks different. Cammy is 10 months old today. Figuring out this mom life,” she said. “I’ve had to fight a lot this year- for my health, for my daughter, for women & mothers, for what I deserve and for my fitness. I’m really proud to be at my 9th world championships and this one is extra special because my baby girl is in the stadium to watch it all.”
Felix, a new Athleta ambassador, has an impressive record of using her platform to advocate for women—and especially mothers—in sport. After Olympian Alysia Montaño called out her former sponsor Nike for not supporting pregnant athletes, Felix (and fellow Olympic runner Kara Goucher) also spoke up. “What I’m not willing to accept is the enduring status quo around maternity. I asked Nike to contractually guarantee that I wouldn’t be punished if I didn’t perform at my best in the months surrounding childbirth,” she wrote in a New York Times op-ed in May. “I wanted to set a new standard. If I, one of Nike’s most widely marketed athletes, couldn’t secure these protections, who could?”
It’s safe to say Felix has set a new standard: Women can be mothers and champions.
