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Allyson Felix

Born on November 18, 1985, Felix grew up in Santa Clarita, California. Her father, Paul, is a Baptist minister who had once been an excellent sprinter as a teen, and from her schoolteacher mother, Marlean, she inherited her long legs. Felix followed her older brother, Wes, into the sport, though she did not try out for a track team until her ninth-grade year at Los Angeles Baptist High School in North Hills. That March of 2000 date proved an apocryphal one: she was the first to make a run when the coach, Jonathan Patton, lined up the possible sprinting stars during tryout week. She ran it so fast that he thought he had mis-measured the distance, but then the other runners who came after her clocked in normal times. She ran it again at his request, and with the same result. In 2003, Felix turned in an impressive performance when she competed in the Banamex Grand Prix in Mexico City's Olympic Stadium. She broke her own record in the 200-meter, clocking a time of 22.11 seconds, which was a new world record in the under-20 category. At the Banamex, Felix also matched Marion Jones's best time in the 200-meter from the previous year, and beat Inger Miller as well, the 1999 world champion. Felix emerged as the new American female runner to watch, just as Jones was taking some time... Next

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