Death of a teammate, traumatic pregnancy, bruising pay war: how Allyson Felix survived it all to become a track legend

Felix’s 11 Olympic medals have made her the most decorated American track and field athlete of all time. She talks about her greatest battles inside and outside the stadium

When Allyson Felix won her final gold Olympic medal, at Tokyo 2020, it made her the most decorated US track and field athlete of all time. Eleven medals – seven of which were gold – over five consecutive Games. But that final gold, in the women’s 4x400m relay at the postponed Games, held in 2021, was all the more impressive given what Felix had been through since the previous Olympics. Just two years before, she had nearly died in childbirth, and now she felt she had a duty to tell the world about it.

“Although my mindset was completely dialled in to the task at hand,” she says, “I also knew that I was running for a bigger purpose.”