Allyson Felix - the Olympic champion who took on Nike for the rights of pregnant athletes

Allyson Felix, the most-decorated Olympic and World champion track and field athlete in history, made headlines in 2019 when she came forward and revealed that her contract talks with Nike came to a "standstill" after she asked Nike to guarantee she wouldn't be punished for not performing her best in the months following childbirth.

In 2017, when Felix was 32, her contract came up for renewal with Nike. She knew that her and her husband were hoping to start a family — which only jeopardised her livelihood further. The proposed renewal contract was worded in such a way that her pay depended on medals won, with Nike ultimately penalising Felix financially, to the tune of a 70% pay-cut. Despite Felix being a world champion, one of the most decorated athletes to date AND having a long history with Nike, they did nothing to protect her earnings as she did what is completely natural for people to do - start a family. In fact, she was essentially punished for it.

“I’ve been one of Nike’s most widely marketed athletes. If I can’t secure maternity protections, who can?” she wrote. “If we have children, we risk pay cuts from our sponsors during pregnancy and afterward. It’s one example of a sports industry where the rules are still mostly made for and by men.”

Felix’s story is told in the high-acclaimed film She Runs the World, where it documents the tense negotiations which ensued following Felix’s proposed renewal contract conditions. Her manager, who also happens to be her brother, Wes Felix, was able to get Nike to improve their offer slightly - but nowhere near enough. The impression left was that Nike were afraid of setting a precedent of income protection for pregnant athletes.

I’ve been one of Nike’s most widely marketed athletes. If I can’t secure maternity protections, who can?

However, things changed when Felix stepped outside of her comfort zone and published an op-ed with the New York Times, titled “Allyson Felix: My Own Nike Pregnancy Story”. Felix wrote: 

“For most of my life, I was focused on one thing: winning medals. And I was good at it. At 32, I was one of the most decorated athletes in history: a six-time Olympic gold medal winner and an 11-time world champion. But last year, my focus expanded: I wanted to be a professional athlete and a mother. In some ways, that dream was crazy.”

Not the only one

In the piece, Felix cites the then-recent coming forward of her former co-athlete with Nike, Alysia Montaño, who made headlines in 2019 for bravely sharing her own pregnancy story, and Nike’s response. On Mother’s Day in the US in 2019, the New York Times published Montaño’s story exposing Nike’s reaction to her plans to become pregnant, with the company reportedly telling Montaño: “We’ll just pause your contract and stop paying you.” Once again, Alysia Montaño is a champion in her sport, specifically a six-time 800 metre USA Outdoor Track and Field champion. As Montaño cleverly put it, turning Nike’s own ‘Dream Crazy’ campaign against them, “Nike told me to ‘dream crazy’.. until I wanted a baby”. In 2014, she sent an extraordinary, powerful message when she ran the 800 metre race — while 8 months pregnant. She did it again in 2017 while 5 months pregnant.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=341468467345212&set=a.269375934554466&type=3

---

The result

The combined outcry in response to both Felix and Montaño’s shocking treatment from Nike led to an update in the company’s attitude towards pregnant athletes: the introduction of a new maternity policy that guaranteed their sponsored female athletes that should they become pregnant, Nike would “not apply any performance-related reduction” for a period of 18 months — thus entitling them to their full pay and bonuses. ASICS, another major sports-wear brand, soon followed suit. 

Nike told me to ‘dream crazy’.. until I wanted a baby.

It was a hard-fought battle that ended in a victory for all female athletes sponsored by Nike, but for something so basic and expected that it still leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Both Felix and Montaño are, and were at the time, major athletes. Champions, to be exact. The decision to sponsor them, on Nike’s behalf, was no doubt a very successful decision. Yet they were dropped like a hot potato at the mention of the word “pregnancy”. As Montaño proved, pregnancy does not automatically mean you can no longer run, especially in the case of someone as physically fit and skilled as herself. When she ran the 800 metre race while 8 months pregnant, she finished in 2 minutes, 32.13 seconds — only 35 seconds short of her personal best. In 2017, while 5 months pregnant, she ran the same race again, breaking her previous record by shaving off an astonishing 10 seconds. Most of us at 8 months pregnant struggle to simply roll over in bed without breaking a sweat.

Felix’s return

Similarly, Felix returned to the track after only 10 months postpartum despite an emergency C-section due to severe preeclampsia. Felix would not have been remiss for taking longer leave, but the amount of time she took shows not only how quickly she recovered as a highly-trained, exceptionally fit athlete, but also how much her career means to her. The same goes for Montaño. The point is this: any industry that treats pregnancy as the “kiss of death” would be doing well to understand that the problem does not lie with the completely natural, sacred, beautiful act of giving life to the world. The issue is not and could never be the process by which the world continues; the creation and growing of families. The problem is the anti-life and anti-woman sentiment that guides the actions of companies when analysing their profit margins. For these businesses, it might be worth pondering the outcome of a world where more and more women stop having babies.