“Isolating and Lonely”: Olympic Star Reveals Saddening Reality of How Mothers Are Treated in Sports

One of the household names of the track and field community is the Olympic star, Allyson Felix. She has had a historic and commendable career, which makes her one of the best there is. With her expertise in 100m, 200m, and 400m, she has always been at the pinnacle of her vocation with multiple accolades and prestigious Olympic titles.

However, things weren’t always smooth for her. She reached the top with multiple trials and tribulations on her back. One of the most sensitive times of her career was her first pregnancy. She had to hide it just for the sake of her career and now years after when she is pregnant with her second child, she has opened up about the harsh truth of the experiences she faced then in the sports industry.

Allyson Felix reveals shocking experiences from first pregnancy

Allyson Felix has always been one of the athletes who voice her opinion about woman empowerment and has taken steps to make things better for all women. Apart from learning staunch skills in her track career, Felix has also learned that there are some dark sides to the sports industry, especially for pregnant athletes.

She spoke in a recent interview with NBC about how it all affected her mentally, physically, and financially. The sponsorship agreements have been a problem for the woman athletes for a very long time and she had to hide her pregnancy for the same reason as well. She expressed that when an athlete is in the middle of a contract, the re-negotiations come up from the sponsors. This was one of the main reasons for her.

To hide it she trained at 4 in the morning when it was still dark. The Olympic prodigy expressed, “I wore baggy clothes, I barely left the house and it was a really isolating and lonely time”. The experience of being pregnant was taken from her as she had to hide her pregnancy.

Some more instances of Felix’s difficult times during pregnancy

Allyson Felix did a lot of things to hide her pregnancy and most of it was because of just a fear she had back then. She expressed, “I had always jumped off those special moments, the baby showers, and all the pictures”. She further added, “For me, it was really lonely. And I spent a lot of it, hiding”.

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All of this was because Nike was already offering her 70% less, and she was afraid if they found out about this, then this would also slip off her hands. However, even after leaving Nike, Allyson Felix stood up gracefully and built a brand of her own for only women and is now an exemplary entity for the upcoming generation in situations like this.

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