Olympic icon Felix making presence felt at Paris Games

US sprinter and most decorated female Olympic athlete ever in track and field, Allyson Felix, poses during a photo session in Paris, on July 26, 2024. Allyson Felix is the most decorated track and field athlete in history. With a record 20 World Championship medals and 11 medals at the Olympic Games – including seven golds – she ranks among the sport’s greats. (Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP)

Allyson Felix may have finally hung up her spikes after a glittering career that spanned three decades and five Olympics, but the track and field icon is still making her presence felt at the Paris Games.

The 38-year-old American legend, the most decorated athlete in track and field history, is the driving force behind the first ever nursery set up for athletes and their children at the Olympic village.

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The area provides athletes with a child-friendly space to play and care for their children, who are not allowed to stay with parents in the village under Olympic rules.

It is the latest initiative arising from Felix’s growing role as a ferocious advocate for gender equality and the rights of working mothers.

Felix said the idea of the nursery first came to her as she juggled child-care duties while continuing to compete at the highest level after the birth of daughter Camryn in 2018.

“That first year of competition, I took her everywhere and it was really challenging,” Felix told AFP in an interview on Friday.

“It felt like a lot of the things were not in place. It was hard being a mother, traveling with an infant and breastfeeding in different stadiums. Things like washing bottles in hotels — it seemed like it wasn’t set up for mothers.”

Felix’s idea for a nursery gained momentum after she began working with the International Olympic Committee’s Athletes Commission in 2022.

“It was really top of mind ‘How do we make things better for mothers to be able to be at the top of their game at these big competitions?’ And so as the Olympics were upcoming, just thinking about the village it was something that I was able to bring up and it was really well received.

– Childcare barrier –

“And we got things moving. it’s a great starting place, and I would like to grow it.”

Felix said she hopes the facilities put in place in Paris become standard at major championships and meetings around the world.

“Childcare to me is a huge barrier and I want it to really live beyond the Olympics, to be standardized at major competitions,” she said.

She would also like to see other resources made available for mothers aiming to return to competition.

“Whether that is being able to talk to someone or, for funds to be able to have a partner or caregiver come with you just to kind of more practical things to make it easier,” she said.

Felix meanwhile admits she is still adjusting to life as a spectator at the Olympics after appearing at every Games between 2004 and 2021.

“It’s very bizarre,” she said. “I was walking through the village the other day and had this weird feeling like, I feel like I need to be getting ready for a race.”

Felix meanwhile is hopeful that Gabby Thomas can recapture the Olympic 200m crown for the United States. No American woman has won gold in the event since Felix’s victory in London in 2012.

“I talked to her just before we came out here and I think she’s in a really great place,” Felix said of Thomas.

“She seems very confident. And I think her experiences have now helped her to where she’s at. She’s looking really good. I expect good things from her.”