It’s big news when a record set by none other than Usain Bolt is broken, especially when it is done so by a woman who gave birth less than a year ago! Of course, it wasn’t his 100m record but this is a HUGE feat none the less and oozes #BlackGirlMagic!
Olympic sprinter Allyson Felix smashed the world record as part of Team USA’s mixed-gender 4x400m relay team. They won gold at the World Championships Sunday making it Felix’s 12th gold medal at the world championships, this pushes her past Bolt’s record for the most gold medals of any athlete at the track and field World Championships.
After Felix gave birth to Camryn last November she knew she wanted to get back to competition asap and returned just eight months after giving birth.
She was part of a group of female track stars who alleged they were penalized by Nike for being pregnant. After the women spoke out, the company said it would do more to protect female athletes’ pay during and after pregnancy.
“I think everything I went through this year … it just brings it all back that it’s so much bigger than myself,” Felix, who went on to become the first sponsored athlete for Athleta, told ESPN at the world championships in Doha, Qatar.
Felix was not the only mom to win at the world championships.
Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce celebrated her win in the 100-meter race with her 2-year-old son and called it a “victory for motherhood,” according to ESPN.
Fraser-Pryce told ESPN she sat on her bed and cried when she found out she was pregnant, but said of her decision to keep competing, “I knew how I felt and I knew I wasn’t ready to go. I had something left to do, and I stayed focused on the goal.”
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