American athlete Allyson Felix has beaten Usain Bolt’s gold medal record.
The 33 year old athlete won her 12th gold medal at the World Athletics Championship on Sunday October 6th in Doha, breaking a record held previously by Jamacain sprinter Bolt.
Running in the second leg of the championship’s first ever mixed-gender 4×400 meter relay, Felix secured a gold medal alongside her USA teammates, becoming the first athlete to win 12 World Championship gold medals.
Felix achieved this record 10 months after the birth of her daughter Camryn.
Before Camryn’s arrival in November 2018, Felix had been signed to Nike for seven years, however when Nike refused to agree that Felix would not suffer financially if she didn’t perform well after giving birth, Felix decided to sign with womens sports clothing brand, Athleta.
In May 2019, Felix spoke out on the situation by writing an article for the New York Times opinion section entitled “Allyson Felix: My Own Nike Pregnancy Story.”
Felix wrote about her dream of being both an athlete and a mother, but knowing that this combination can often be a career ender for female athletes.
“If we have children, we risk pay cuts from our sponsors during pregnancy and afterward. It’s one example of a sports industry where the rules are still mostly made for and by men,” she wrote.
According to Felix, Nike wanted to pay her 70 percent less after her pregnancy than they had paid her before. Felix wrote about how when she first signed with Nike she thought she would have the power to empower women and girls. She said she was told “Nike believed in women and girls.”
In response to criticism from Felix and other athletes who have spoken out such as Alysia Montaño, Kara Goucher and Phoebe Wright, Nike said it would end performance pay reductions for 12 months for athletes who they sponsor that become pregnant.
Felix had to undergo a cesarean section at 32 weeks pregnant due to pre-eclampsia causing serious risk to the lives of both her and her baby. Returning to athletics postpartum was made more difficult by this surgery.
She said on social media: “The uncertainty. The fear. There were a lot of days I wasn’t sure this was going to be possible. I worked harder than I even knew I could. There were tears, frustration and doubt. At times it felt like everything was against me.”
Rounding off her New York Times article, Felix wrote “But pregnancy is not messing up; for women it can and should be able to be part of a thriving professional athletic career…and I dream of a day when we don’t have to fight in order to try.”
“Protection during maternity isn’t just limited to Olympians; working women all over the U.S. deserve protection when they have children…our families depend on it.”