Allyson Felix

She played a key role on the United States women's relay teams, winning six additional Olympic gold medals: four consecutive medals at 4 × 400 meters (2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020) and two at 4 × 100 meters (2012 and 2016). The 2012 and 2016 U.S. Olympic 4 × 100 m teams set a world record of 40.82 s and the second fastest time of 41.01 s, respectively. Felix became the first female track and field athlete to ever win seven Olympic gold medals in 2021. She is the most decorated woman and the most decorated American in Olympic track and field history, having earned 11 total medals from five consecutive Olympic Games. Felix is the most decorated athlete, male or female, in World Athletics Championships history with 20 career medals. With a combined Olympic and World Championship total of 31 medals, she is also the overall most decorated athlete in track and field history, with 12 medals from individual events and 19 from relays. Felix was the first athlete in track and field history to medal in 3 different relays, 4 × 100 m, 4 × 400 m and mixed 4 × 400 m.

Felix, along with Alysia Montaño and Kara Goucher, is credited with stirring public outcry over Nike's refusal to guarantee salary protections for its pregnant athletes, prompting the sportswear brand to expand its maternity policy in 2019. Two years after her departure from Nike, she launched her own footwear company, Saysh, in June 2021. The same year, she became the first athlete in track and field history to win Olympic medals while wearing her own racing spikes, the Saysh Spike One. Having initially retired in 2022, Felix announced a comeback in 2026 to try to qualify for the 2028 Summer Olympics.

She was included in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2020 and 2021. In 2022, Felix received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from her alma mater USC and also served as the commencement speaker for that year's graduation ceremony. In July 2024, Felix was placed at number 63 on ESPN's list of the 100 greatest athletes of the 21st century.

Felix graduated high school in 2003, making headlines by forgoing college eligibility to sign a professional contract with Adidas via her agent Nik Visger. Adidas paid her an undisclosed sum and picked up her college tuition at the University of Southern California. She graduated in May 2008 with a degree in elementary education.

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