Alexis Ohanian’s Athlos NYC hosted 36 athletes from all over the world competing in six events. Several Olympians, including Gabby Thomas, Faith Kipyegon, Alexis Holmes, and many more renowned athletes, graced the stage in New York with their enlightening presence. Apart from these superstars in the athletics world, Serena Williams’ husband, Alexis Ohanian, even managed to book Grammy Award-winning artist Megan Thee Stallion for a musical performance at the event. It was truly a star-studded lineup in every aspect! Ohanian was quite humbled to find himself receiving the same level of celebrity status as these superstars at the Athlos event.

Speaking about the excitement among the fans surrounding these athletes, Ohanian says, “Sell out crowd, Thursday night. You know we’re going head to head with Thursday night football and winning. Because people want to watch women’s sports and I love the fact, we’re going head to head in a city as amazing as New York and coming out on top with a packed crowd.” The decibels were always high inside the jam-packed stadium, but the excitement levels soared even higher after seeing these athletes setting the tracks on fire!

Renowned sports anchor/reporter Serenity Douglas recently shared a post on her X handle. In that post, she was seen collecting autographs from several Olympians, and guess what? Serena Williams’ husband, Alexis Ohanian, was also seen signing an autograph for her in the same video clip. Douglas captioned her post with, “I got some Olympic autographs, plus @alexisohanian, don’t be ashamed!” In that clip, Ohanian was heard saying, “Really? You’re sure?” He was possibly a bit surprised to see his stardom in the middle of all these Olympians. However, he gladly gave his autograph on a picture of himself, which he claimed was from when he was just 30 years old. Later on, Ohanian shared that video clip on his X handle with the caption, “I’m just happy to have been included.“

Athlos NYC was undoubtedly a big success, and his $60,000 promise literally took the track and field world by storm. Alexis Ohanian, along with his team, worked hard to create an event that would change the track and field landscape forever. So, surely, this man deserves all the recognition for his valiant efforts. But what really inspired him to start this Athlos project?

Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian shares the real inspiration behind Athlos

During the event, we saw how excited Olympia was to be in the stadium and witness this iconic event. She stole the show with her adorable TikTok dance moves and was later spotted attempting a short sprint during the event. Explaining these beautiful moments we heard Alexis Ohanian say, “Lot of energy and everything. These ladies deserve and we know Olympia is having a good time and that’s all I care about.” Just like Serena Williams, even Ohanian has always loved seeing their daughter participate in multiple sports.

Being the husband of one of the biggest celebrities in the sports world and having a sports-loving daughter clearly played a major role in his heavy investments in women’s sports. But is that the only reason? According to Ohanian, women’s sports are still very much “under-invested.” So, coming up with this idea (Athlos NYC) wasn’t an abrupt decision—he had always had this plan in mind. But how did it all begin?

Speaking on the inspiration behind Athlos during an interview with ‘ATHLETICSWEEKLY.COM’, Alexis Ohanian revealed, “The inspiration [to ATHLOS] came last year. I started feeling the same ‘spidey sense’ that I had in 2019, when women’s soccer, from an investment standpoint, was the biggest opportunity in all of sport.” He later invested in Angel City, but at the same time, he realized that people pay more attention to women’s sports during the big events (World Cup, Olympics, etc.), while during the rest of the time, it struggles to attract crowds.

Ohanian wanted to do something for the women’s sports. “What I found was a huge opportunity to create something that could ride on all of the energy from the Olympics. We want to remind folks that these are some of the fastest humans on the planet and they deserve this blue chip setting, not just during a Games. We’ve seen all of the momentum [since the ATHLOS announcement]. I didn’t know SPRINT was on its way too and that’s helped bring the sport to the masses,” said Ohanian. His journey with Athlos has truly been a story worth telling, and it’s no wonder people were seeking his autograph at this mega event.