When I was a kid they called me chicken feet
Allyson Felix
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In the belly of Hayward Field, the cradle of modern athletics, the legends take their baths in glory.
Sergéi Bubka appears in one of the stadium's vomitories and there a cloud of Mongolian fans surrounds him. They ask him for selfies, autographs, they uncover their heads when they take off their caps and ask him to sign them.
In Google, the Internet user follows the suggestion of Javier Sánchez, editor of El Mundo, and types in a name:
Allyson Felix.
The silhouette of the American star crosses the computer screen. Then, three terms emerge:
Olympic athlete.
Mother.
defender.
And then her figure rises, carrying in her arms little Camryn, her daughter, who is already three years old and often goes with her on her sports adventures.
Goes. Or was going
Well, Allyson Felix (36) leaves the scene here and now, in Eugene, in the temple of American athletics. In his house.
(He leaves the scene athletically, because his presence, spiritual, moral, exemplary, will continue to surround us, no one doubts that)
On the track, the stadium roars.
It happens as soon as Elija Godwin passes the baton to Allyson Felix, second reliever on the American mixed team.
He does it with an abysmal advantage, 44:00 Godwin has scored, and Felix starts with a margin of five meters and holds his own until the last straight, when the Dominican Marileidy Paulino jumps on him.
Delivered second, after registering a part of 50s34, and the team finished bronze, after the Dominican Republic and the Netherlands.
The bronze is an interruptus, but Allyson Felix doesn't seem to be up for it anymore. He sits discreetly on the plaid, wraps himself in the stars and stripes, walks to the side of the stands, and hugs Camryn.
The girl looks at her mother although she seems not to understand anything. She may never remember the scene. After all, who has any memory of her first three years?
And so a lady says goodbye.
Well, he had already announced it before the test was held, in the previous weeks:
“I'll run the relay in Eugene, and then it's over.
(and that opportunity is a kind of tribute to the legend, because in the American Trials, a month before, Felix had barely been sixth)
And adds:
I have done all this for women. By you. For a better future for my daughter. And stay connected, because I plan to launch a series of initiatives that will make the world a better place for women.
And all of the latter must be explained.
Five years ago, Allyson Felix opened fire on Nike, the firm that had accompanied him for a good part of his career and that then, upon finding out that the athlete was pregnant, had decided to renew it on the downside.
(and the reduction was particularly painful, 70%)
Y...?
Well, Allyson Felix had replied:
-No way.
And then he had reported the case. And she had broken with Nike to sign for Athleta, a company committed to women's rights. And she had opened her own line of sneakers, Saysh.
-Some multinationals believe that you have no alternative but to remain in their hands. And that for that reason they can continue to pressure you. And I think that's what they thought of me: 'He will never say anything.
An Allyson Felix was going to come out of that conflict as committed to her professional career (she says goodbye with 19 world podiums, thirteen of them are gold, more than anyone in the history of athletics) as well as to the rights of women, an example that was to follow a range of sports legends, such as Serena Williams or Alex Morgan, and all sorts of activists, university academics, politicians, businessmen (Nike itself has redirected its relationship with its female athletes) and pundits.
–I am especially proud of my career beyond the tracks –she said goodbye in the Oregon night.
The night was cool and comforting.
