Felix Seeks Individual Gold in London

With her long, skinny legs back in high school, teammates used to call Allyson Felix “chicken legs.” The jeering motivated Felix to succeed, and now she’s the one doing the laughing.

Felix didn’t start running track until her freshman year in high school. Her father, Paul, is an ordained minister. You’ll be hard pressed to find Felix running a race without sporting the small cross necklace that she wears in competition.

Her first taste of the Olympics came in 2004. Just 18 years old, Felix brought home the silver medal in the 200-meter race. Allyson has nine World Championship gold medals to her credit. Three of those medals came in 2007 in Osaka, Japan. She became only the second woman in history to win three gold medals at the same World Championship meet by winning the 200-meter, 4 by 100 meter relay, and 4 by 400 meter relay.

The 2008 Olympics rolled around in Beijing, and Felix once again surfaced in the middle of the hunt. She picked up another silver medal in the 200, and her first Olympic gold in the 4 by 400.  Once again, the individual Olympic gold medal eluded one of the fastest women in the world.

The list of accomplishments for Allyson Felix seems endless. She’s won the Jesse Owens Award three different times. At just 26 years old, Felix gears up for London with aspirations of more gold. It could be an Olympic moment to remember if Allyson Felix can carry her tiny cross necklace across the finish line first, leaving London with that elusive individual gold medal.