The ‘Once-in-a-Lifetime’ Reason Behind Track Star Allyson Felix’s Olympic Comeback

The track and field star is plotting to return in time for the 2028 Summer Games.

Felix announced her plans in an exclusive for TIME. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Roughly four years after retiring from her sport in the spring of 2022, track and field star Allyson Felix has revealed plans for a comeback in 2027, with the goal of then qualifying for the ‘28 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

“So many of us have been told not to do the big, bold thing,” Felix said in an exclusive interview with TIME, published Monday. “You know, at this age, I should probably be staying home and taking care of my kids, doing all that. And just, why not? Let’s flip it on its head. Let’s go after the thing. Let's be vulnerable.”

Felix is currently 40-years-old, and will be 42 by the time the L.A. Olympics roll around. She is the most decorated track-and-field athlete in history, and rounded out her impressive Olympic career with a relay gold medal and a 400-meter bronze in Tokyo in 2021. She has two young kids at home and manages multiple businesses.

Which is all to say—it's not like she has a shortage of time or hardware on her hands. What, then, is drawing her back to the Games?

Well, according to the PowerPoint presentation she made for her brother, Wes, last June—one in which she outlined her desire to compete again, as well as her rationale for why—she is being driven first and foremost by the opportunity to compete in front of her home crowd in L.A.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime homecoming,” Felix, a Los Angeles native, wrote in the slides. “And it is the only thing powerful enough to pull me back.”

Felix knows she has a long road ahead of her and is well aware of the challenges she'll face; the U.S. Olympic sprint team is one of the most stacked rosters in the world, and she’ll be up against runners who are younger and perhaps even more motivated than her, considering the titles she already owns.

Whatever happens, though—bid or no bid—she’ll be content knowing she at least threw her hat into the ring.

“I would probably be upset at myself if I just didn't give it a try,” she told TIME. “However it turns out, I’ll still be there with my kids, hanging out and cheering everybody on.” 

Allyson Felix career summary

Allyson Felix is a seven-time Olympic gold medalist for the United States. | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

Felix, a Los Angeles native, is the most decorated track and field athlete in history and boasts a whopping 20 World Championship medals and 11 Olympic medals, including seven golds, three silver and one bronze. She has competed in a total of five Olympic Games— her first being Athens 2004—and won her only individual Olympic title at the London Games in 2012.

In Rio in 2016, the U.S. was initially disqualified from the women's 4x100m after Felix dropped the baton. The team was later reinstated when replays revealed how Felix had been hit by the arm of a Brazilian athlete.

In November 2018, Felix gave birth to her daughter, Camryn, via emergency C-section, an experience that pushed her to advocate for better maternity care for Black women. She also subsequently criticized her sponsor, Nike, for not guaranteeing pay to athletes returning from pregnancy, and ended up cutting ties with the company in 2019.

On April 13, 2022, Felix announced her plans to retire after that year's season.

“I have given everything I have to running and for the first time I’m not sure if I have anything left to give,” she wrote in a post on Instagram at the time. “I want to say goodbye and thank you to the sport and people who have helped shape me the only way I know how—with one last run.”

Now, Felix plans to start full-time training come October, with the intention of returning to competition in 2027. The L.A. Games will run from July 14 to July 30, 2028.

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