Four-time track and field Olympian Allyson Felix was the face of Nike for years. All over the world, she was on billboards and store walls, and starring in numerous commercials.
Four-time track and field Olympian Allyson Felix was the face of Nike for years. All over the world, she was on billboards and store walls, and starring in numerous commercials. With six Olympic gold medals and three silver medals, she was on top of the running world.
Then she got pregnant and Nike cut her salary by 70 per cent.
In the new documentary, She Runs The World, audiences get a full-access pass into Ms. Felix’s world, journeying with her through her athletic successes, pregnancy complications and her fight against Nike to demand financial protections.
Circuit Arts screened She Runs The World at the Grange Hall Thursday evening. Following the movie, there was panel discussion moderated by filmmaker Dawn Porter that included Ms. Felix, her brother Wes Felix (who is also her agent), directors Matthew O’Neill and Perri Peltz, and executive producer Tonya Lewis Lee.
Allyson and her brother Wes, talking after the film at the Grange Hall.
Allyson and her brother Wes, talking after the film at the Grange Hall.
In the film, audiences learn that after Nike refused to budge during her contract negotiations following her difficult pregnancy, Ms. Felix took matters into her own hands by publishing an op-ed in the New York Times in 2019. In the piece, she revealed that although she was the most decorated American track and field athlete in Olympic history, she couldn’t secure financial protections from Nike during her pregnancy and subsequent recovery.
“When I look at Allyson’s story, I think about the culture of birthing and how we think about birthing and childbearing in this country,” Ms. Lee said. “It is insane to me that companies think that an athlete who has a baby cannot come back and compete.”
After public pushback and congressional testimony from Ms. Felix, Nike and other major sportswear companies announced new policies adding maternity protections for their athletes.
The film contains interviews with Ms. Felix, her family and coaches, as well as archival footage from her childhood, and of Ms. Felix recording training videos of herself. There is a deep poignancy to Ms. Felix’s videos taken while training and trying to hide her pregnancy from the world.
“Those moments you’re alone with the camera are so precious and it’s such a gift to us as filmmakers, but also to all of [us] to be there with you,” Mr. O’Neill said.
Matthew O'Neill, Perri Peltz, Wes Felix, Allyson Felix, Dawn Porter, Tonya Lewis Lee.
Matthew O'Neill, Perri Peltz, Wes Felix, Allyson Felix, Dawn Porter, Tonya Lewis Lee.
Putting her story out into the world was daunting for Ms. Felix.
“I think I’m used to being in front of the public, but in a way of my performance and what I do where I’m the expert, and that’s been so much of my life,” she said. “I just have never been that athlete, that person, to really put myself out there. So I think there was a sense of being uncomfortable and a bit scared.”
Ms. Felix said the final product, of seeing the film and its impact, has reminded her that making her fight public has been important.
“There was something about seeing it all together because I think for so much of this, my head has been down, and I have just been pushing forward,” she said. “There were so many points in my career, in my life, where it just felt like...did it matter? Was there a purpose?”
When planning and editing the documentary, Ms. Peltz said she wanted to make sure that audiences understood the scope of Ms. Felix’s success, and how hard she had to fight against corporate backlash.
“It’s much bigger than just a running film. It is an extraordinary story of an incredible woman and brother and what they were able to accomplish, set in the world of running,” she said.
Ms. Felix hopes this film and her story will continue to inspire others.
“My hope was that so many other women would see themselves in me, and that we could do something to improve things of the past,” she said.
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