AP Photo/Ashley Landis
- Olympic sprinter Allyson Felix posted a picture showcasing her medals and c-section scar.
- The athlete launched a new lifestyle company and community made for and by women.
- Felix criticized Nike in 2019, saying the brand was going to cut her pay once she became a mom.
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Olympic sprinter Allyson Felix shared a powerful photo on Instagram featuring her Olympic medals and c-section scar to announce the launch of her new women-centered online workout company and community, Saysh.
Felix, the most decorated American female track Olympian in history with six gold and three silver medals, has fought for gender equality in running – and specifically from her former sponsor Nike – since delivering her daughter in 2018.
Now with Saysh, she said she hopes to continue the momentum she wishes she hadn't had to build.
"Please be clear. I used my voice and built this company for you," Felix wrote on Instagram. "So that you never have to train at 4:30am while you're 5 months pregnant to hide your pregnancy from your sponsor. So that you won't have to fight someone so much bigger than you for a right that should be basic. I took that on for you, and I didn't do it alone, but it was for you."
Felix said she built the company, which currently sells a sneaker designed for and by women and offers online workouts, to help women "feel seen and known," she wrote. "I hope I'm able to leave this sport better than I found it and this world better than when I entered it."
Felix accused Nike of treating female athletes poorly while boasting women's empowerment
Felix criticized her then-sponsor, Nike, in 2019, writing in the New York Times that the brand said it would cut her pay after childbirth and not cut her slack for any dips in performance around her labor. Fellow runners Alysia Montano and Kara Goucher shared similar experiences too.
Nike now has an updated maternity policy, but no longer represents Felix, who now partners with Athleta. In a recent interview with Time, she said the company was "beyond disrespectful" when asking her to be in female-empowerment ads while privately disputing maternity protections.
She also said hiding her pregnancy for the sake of her career cost her the experience of being an expectant mom. "I don't feel like I was ever really pregnant," she said.
Now, Felix isn't hiding motherhood. After winning a place on the US Olympic team for the Tokyo games, she celebrated with her daughter, Camryn, on the track.
Felix had preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication more common in Black women
Felix was diagnosed with severe preeclampsia while 32 weeks pregnant with Camryn. She underwent an emergency c-section and Camryn stayed in the NICU for a month.
Preeclampsia causes women to develop high blood pressure and usually protein in her urine, and can also lead to swelling in their legs, hands, face, or whole body, according to Harvard Medical School. If it develops into eclampsia, women experience seizures and may be at higher risk of stroke.
In the US, rates of preeclampsia are about 60% higher in Black women than white women, and Black women are more likely to experience poor outcomes from the condition, one 2017 report found. Black women in the US are also at least two and a half more likely to die in pregnancy, childbirth, or immediately postpartum than white women.
Felix has partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to raise awareness of these issues. "I really want women to have information, to know if they're at risk, to have a plan in place, to not be intimidated in doctor's offices, and to feel empowered to speak up when they have concerns," she said in a March statement.