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Allyson Felix
Credit: Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu Agency via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Allyson Felix is mounting a comeback
- The decorated track and field star is hoping to qualify for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
- Felix, a mother of two, would be 42 years old at the time of the Games
Allyson Felix is ready to race again!
The most decorated American track and field athlete of all time, who retired in 2022, has announced that she is coming back at the age of 40 — and she has her sights on competing in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“So many of us have been told not to do the big, bold thing,” Felix said in an interview with TIME magazine published on Monday, April 27. “You know, at this age, I should probably be staying home and taking care of my kids, doing all that. And just, why not? Let's flip it on its head. Let's go after the thing. Let's be vulnerable.”
The athlete — who has won 11 Olympic medals, seven gold — said she is partly motivated by the chance to compete in her "hometown."
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime homecoming,” Felix said in a proposal she pitched to her brother and business partner Wes Felix last June. “And it is the only thing powerful enough to pull me back.”
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Allyson Felix and daughter Camryn in 2022.
Credit: Steph Chambers/Getty
Felix also said she is inspired by the achievements of other athletes in their 40s, including LeBron James, Lindsey Vonn and Tom Brady.
Felix will ramp up her training and begin to race next year, but doesn’t plan on traveling to international competitions; instead, she’ll stay close to her husband Kenneth Ferguson and their children, daughter Camryn, 7, and son Trey, 2, according to TIME.
After attending the Paris Olympics in 2024, Felix said she experienced “mixed emotions” about being on the sidelines.
“There were moments where I was like, ‘Oh, this is so great. It’s so exciting to be in the stands and on the other side,’ ” she said. “And then there were moments where I was, ‘You know, I miss this feeling.’ ”
Felix, who is a member of the LA28 Organizing Committee Athletes’ Commission, allows that she would “be upset” if she didn’t try to pursue a comeback, even as she knows that she’s not in “peak” conditioning.
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“I totally get the person who sticks around too long and you’re like, ‘What are they doing?’ ” she said. “I know, at 40, I am not at my peak. I have no illusions about that. I’m very clear in what it is and what I want to see. And so I hope it's seen that way.”
Still, to compete in her sixth Olympics at the age of 42 would be an accomplishment hard to pass up.
“When I was competing, you just heard this roar for host-country athletes at the Olympics. I would love to experience that,” she said. “However it turns out, I'll still be there with my kids, hanging out and cheering everybody on.”
Read the original article on People
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