Watch: Olympic Gold Medalist Allyson Felix Discusses The Pressure On Women Athletes
“I want what I do on the track to be enough.”
“What does it take to be a successful female athlete? You have to have the complete package,” says six-time gold medalist Allyson Felix in a new video from UNINTERRUPTED . The Olympic track and field star discusses the issues facing women in sports, including the pressure outside of their sport and the lack of recognition.
“Ask someone in the general public, ‘Who’s the greatest basketball player?’ or ‘Who’s the greatest football player?’ and we could probably have a very heated debate for over an hour on it,” Felix says. “But if you ask them, ‘Who’s the greatest women’s basketball player?’ I don’t think they would know where to begin. I don’t think you could even have the conversation.”
She also doesn’t feel the situation has improved for women athletes, explaining, “When I entered professional sports almost 15 years ago, I don’t think things look all that different from how they are now. I don’t think I see significant growth.”
Watch the interview video above.