Allyson Felix enters her final World Athletics Championships on Friday as the most decorated athlete in the history of the event, with 18 career medals. While her final international race will come in Friday’s 4×400-meter mixed relay, her success has spanned both individual and team events.
The 36-year-old also is the most decorated woman and the most decorated American in Olympic track and field history.
“I’m super-proud of all the stuff that’s happened on the track,” Felix told The Associated Press. “But I think my biggest accomplishments are the things that didn’t necessarily get a medal.”
Felix has been a changemaker both on and off the track. She partnered with Athleta and nonprofit &Mother to provide childcare for athletes at the U.S. championships last month. She also has started her own shoe company, Saysh.
Since turning pro at 17 years old, Felix has grown up in the spotlight, and she has used her prominence to improve the sports world for those that will come after her.
As Felix’s career comes to a close, Just Women’s Sports is looking back on some of her biggest moments.
After turning pro two years prior, Felix won the first of her many world championship titles in Helsinki in 2005. She came from behind to win, outlasting Rachelle Boone-Smith of the United States and Christine Arron of France to take the title in a time of 22.16.
While Felix competed at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games, she didn’t win her first individual gold until 2012.
She won the 200m at the London Games with a time of 21.88 to take home the prize. She went on to win gold in the 4×100-meter relay and the 4×400-meter relay at the same Olympics.
Felix knocked off Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and her fellow American Carmelita Jeter for gold. Veronica Campbell-Brown, who had been aiming to become the first runner to win the 200m three times at the Olympics, finished outside of the top three.
In Tokyo last summer, Felix may not have broken world records, but she did break some others. With a bronze medal in the 400 meters, she set the record for women 35 or older with a time of 49.46. She also tied Carl Lewis for the most Olympic medals in U.S. track and field history.
She later broke Lewis’ record in the 4×400-meter relay, winning gold alongside Sydney McLaughin, Dalilah Muhammad and Athing Mu with a time of 3:16.85.