Not many athletes can say they’ve achieved something Usain Bolt hasn’t, but America’s Allyson Felix did just that back in 2019.
Bolt, 39, remains the fastest human being ever to grace the Earth, holding both the 100 and 200 metre world records – with times of 9.58 seconds and 19.19 seconds respectively – as well as forming part of the Jamaican team that set the 4x100m relay record at London 2012 with a lightning-quick time of 36.84 seconds.
Aside from his Olympic success, Bolt also raced to 11 gold medals at the World Athletics Championships, as well as two silvers and a bronze.
While no man has won more than Bolt’s 11 World Championship golds, Felix, 40, holds the overall record, having won the most across both men’s and women’s competitions.
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The 40-year-old, who has also won seven Olympic gold medals, has 14 World Championship golds to her name, along with three silvers and the same number of bronzes.
Ahead of the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, Felix was tied with Bolt on 11 golds.
She broke Bolt’s medal record in the 4x400m mixed relay before adding gold number 13 in the women’s 4x400 metres race at the same championships.
And if breaking Bolt’s record wasn’t remarkable enough, Felix did it just 10 months after giving birth to her daughter, Camryn.
As reported by BBC Sport at the time, Felix went for a check-up at 32 weeks before being told she and her child were in ‘mortal danger’ due to the athlete suffering from pre-eclampsia.
As per the NHS, symptoms include “severe headache, vision problems such as blurring or flashing, pain just below the ribs, vomiting, and sudden swelling of the face, hands or feet”.
In extreme cases, the condition can result in the death of both mother and baby.
Ten hours after arriving at hospital, Felix gave birth via emergency Caesarean. Despite her health scare, just 10 months and one day later, she was celebrating winning gold at the World Championships.
"Last Christmas, when I was in the hospital, I could not have believed at all that I would be here in Doha winning medals," she said after winning gold in Doha. "This moment that was supposed to be so happy was happy, but it was also really scary and uncertain."
Since 2019, she has added a further World Championships gold to her collection at the 2022 event in Eugene, once again helping the USA win 4x400m relay gold.
That year, she retired from sprinting, saying: “As a little girl they called chicken legs, never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined I’d have a career like this. I have so much gratitude for this sport that has changed my life. I have given everything I have to running and for the first time I’m not sure if I have anything left to give.”
In total, Felix won 20 medals at the World Athletics Championships.
Topics: Usain Bolt, Athletics, Olympics
Luke Davies