By: Max Cao

Allyson Felix, a world class sprinter, announced that 2022 will be her last year of racing. Even after she has retired, she will still be a legend.

Felix’s first major accomplishment was when she placed second in the U.S trials in 2003, therefore making it into her first-ever World Championships. “It was a night I will cherish. I’ve had such good memories,” she said. Since then, she has won 19 World Championship medals, 13 of which are gold, as well as 11 Olympic medals, setting the record for the most Olympiad medals ever earned by a track-and-field athlete in history.

In 2018, Felix gave birth to her daughter Camryn after she obtained a disease called pre-eclampsia which endangered both her life and her baby’s. She said, “After enduring the two most terrifying days of my life, I learned my story was not so uncommon. There were others like me, just like me, black like me, healthy like me and doing their best, just like me. And they faced death like me too.” Later in her statement she said, “We need to provide women of color with more support during their pregnancies. There is a level of racial bias within our healthcare system that is troubling and will be difficult to tackle, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t.”

She turned these words into actions by finding a new sponsor and working with a non-profit organization to set up a free daycare for the children of the participants of the 2022 U.S trials. She understands staying silent won’t change anything, only actions will.

In 2021, Felix, now 35, qualified for the 400-meter Olympic final as the second slowest runner, yet every spark that doubted her was quickly snuffed out when Felix finished second.

It should be safe to everyone to say that Allyson Felix will remain a running legend long after she has retired.